The Boy Who Fell, A HP Starwars Crossover
by Darth Marrs
Summary: The Boy Who Lived didn't. Now 13 years after Harry Potter was murdered by the Dursleys, magical England is on the verge of collapse. So Luna Lovegood wishes for someone to come and make it all better.
1. The Girl Who Wished

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. I'm not writing this for profit.**

**Author's Note**: This is in response to some readers who began this story with a preconceived notion as to Harry Potter's place in the fic. Although this story is set in the Harry Potter universe created by J K Rowling, Harry Potter is not a character in this story. He really does die in the prologue. Instead, the protagonist of the story is a canon Star Wars character whose last name should be recognizable to anyone who has ever seen any SW at all; the heroine is of course the indomitable and highly enjoyable Luna Lovegood.

Please also note the M rating. While there are no graphic depictions, there is an account of off screen torture that has upset some readers. This is intended for mature, adult readers. I despise adding warnings, but am frankly tired of children screaming about something they shouldn't be reading in the first place. (Does that sound mean? Sorry.)

This remains one of my favorite stories. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Thank you for reading.

Darth Marrs

* * *

**The Boy Who Fell;**

**Or, The Adventures of Space Witch**

An HP/SW Crossover

**Prologue: The Wizard Who Wept**

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and holder of the Order of Merlin, First Class, stood alone in the Little Whinging public cemetery as a cold rain fell down around him.

The service earlier that day was attended by a single person beside the chaplain and the invisible headmaster. The thin, harsh features of Petunia Dursley appeared to the nearby wizard as pensive, and perhaps even sad. However, once the too-small coffin was laid into the ground and the chaplain said his words of blessing, Petunia merely sniffed, and not in grief. "Well," she said. "Goodbye, then."

She turned and walked out of the graveyard without looking back.

Dumbledore waited until she was gone, ended his disillusionment spell, and slowly stumbled through the yard until he came to stand before the grave. The small, unadorned headstone said merely: "Harry Potter, July 31, 1980-July 31, 1985."

"Oh Harry, how I failed you," Dumbledore said with a stricken voice. He did not bother with any spells to repel the rain. Rather, he let the cold water soak through his long hair and beard. His outlandish violet robes with the moving moon and stars dulled and became still.

Every alarm in his office went off spectacularly a week prior to this dreary moment and announced without hesitation that one four year old Harry Potter was in mortal danger. The old sorcerer apparated to Little Whinging immediately and stormed through the front door of #4 Privet Drive onto a scene of horror.

Vernon Dursley stood, his porcine face red-hued, while his chubby son cowered behind him with a snicker, near the cupboard under the stairs. Dumbledore saw immediately the dark hair of James and Lily's son on the floor, with one little hand curled up by his face, unmoving. He saw the locks handing from the cupboard door.

"What have you done, you muggle fool?" Albus roared with uncharacteristic fury. Before Vernon could protest the old wizard pushed he and his son away and knelt down beside Harry. Little Harry Potter.

The boy's eyes, such a brilliant shade of green like his mother's, were open and sightless. A little yellow pool had gathered around the boy's over-large, hand-me-down pants where his bladder had relaxed. A black line ran across the back of the boy's neck.

"Little freak tried to stick his head out!" Vernon was saying to an invisible jury. "Told the boy to get back inside and he wouldn't. No one talks back to me in my own home!"

Dumbledore fell back onto his haunches and stared down at his charge: Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived.

The wizard slowly stood and turned to face Dursley. His power flared with his rage and grief, and the obscene muggle backed away with a whimper while his fat son started to cry.

"You have murdered this boy," Dumbledore said in a voice that cracked like thunder. "You've murdered a child I gave to you to care for and love."

"Never wanted the brat!" Dursley managed to snap out. "Should have thought of that, now shouldn't you have!"

"So should have you," Dumbledore said. If he were not of the Light, if he were not who he was, the Dursley family would have died that moment.

Instead, the first police cars came careening up to the curb. Dursley whimpered when he looked down at the so very still form of the boy he never wanted to have. When he looked up, the terrifying old freak was gone, and two very disturbed-looking Bobbies stood in his place. "What have we here?"

One week later, Vernon and Petunia Durlsey were awaiting trial. Petunia's charges were not as serious as her husband's, and so she was allowed out long enough to handle the funeral. Their son Dudley was with his Aunt Marge. Petunia did indeed handle the funeral, and when the service was done walked away with a sniff and a high chin.

And Albus Dumbledore stood at the grave of a boy the wizarding world entrusted to his care for their very future.

He knelt down, but the movement turned into a collapse, and the wizard sank to his knees in the wet, muddy ground as the rain fell. For a very brief moment he was a younger man in a different yard. Before him was a headstone with another name—that of a girl he also failed, and who also died because of his arrogance. Tears mixed with the rain. "I am so terribly sorry, my boy," he said softly. "So very, terribly sorry. I failed you. Just like I failed her."

* * *

**Chapter One: The Girl Who Wished**

Luna Lovegood enjoyed skipping immensely. At school, this tendency to skip, combined with other unique facets of her personality, caused some consternation among the other members of her house. This consternation would often express itself through the borrowing of certain items, such as her shoes, her quills, her parchment, her wardrobe, and often times even her undergarments.

On one particularly memorable day, the consternation of her housemates left her nothing to wear but an oversized shirt with a large silhouette of a mouse's head in the front. And so, without anything else to wear, Luna went to classes dressed in said shirt.

"Young lady," Professor McGonagall said in a scandalized whisper when Luna arrived in the great hall for breakfast, "show some modesty!"

"Sadly, my modesty has been removed from my wardrobe," Luna answered with a dreamy blink.

Needless to say, many eyes watched her that day, primarily male ones. The watching continued unabated until a concerted effort by the professors—efforts which included several frightening threats to the primary outlets of the consternation in her house—turned up sufficient articles of Luna's wardrobe to meet the requirements of Professor McGonagall's notion of modesty.

Evidently skipping in a sleeping shirt with no knickers on was the subject of no small amount of conversation among the other students of Hogwarts. Some of the conversation was actually quite flattering, in a rather rude and crass way. The primary lesson her fellow classmates learned that day, however, was that the pale, almost white-blonde color of her hair was in fact quite natural.

So it was one gentle summer day that Luna was skipping down the road from the Burrow to her house. She carried a basket of freshly baked bread from Mrs. Weasley, who was convinced with some good measure of evidence that neither Luna nor her father ate enough.

The evidence to this line of thinking was that, of course, there was no food in the home of Xenophilius Lovegood other than tea and stale biscuits. If not for the generosity of Molly Weasley and the fecundity of her garden, it was entirely possible that the Lovegoods would starve. It was even more possible that Xenophilius would not even notice such an event happening. After all, Luna reasoned, he was quite busy with the _Quibbler_ these days.

The Second War, as it was being called, raged openly across the country. Death Eater attacks occurred now with frightening regularity and the responding auror raids were often times just as deadly. The previous Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, refused to take any action until Dumbledore and the Wizengamot voted to forcible remove him from office for negligence. He was found murdered the next day. The _Quibbler_ sold many copies during the impeachment hearings for Xenophilius's scathing and pointed reviews of Mr. Fudge's hat.

Luna was half-way through her sixteenth year. She was soon to start her sixth year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Luna paused in her happy skipping when she heard a rustling from behind the shrubs that lined the narrow country road. She bent low, and whispered with wonder and awe: "Is that a crumple-horned snorkack?"

Compelled for the sake of science, her father, and sheer curiosity, Luna dove into the underbrush in search of the elusive magical creature.

The rustling pulled her further away from the safety of the road into woods she had explored for the whole of her sixteen years. The lure of discovery pulled her from the thick of the woods onto the shore of a small pond she had come to name Phyllis—so named because it sounded pretty.

Once on the shores of Phyllis the pond, Luna saw that her target was not a crumple-horned snorkack, but in fact a small hedgehog that rustled quickly back into the cover of the trees.

"Oh well, it is a beautiful day," Luna said as she promptly sat down on the shores of the pond. She pulled off a piece of the deliciously warm bread and nibbled contentedly as she watched the clouds drift overhead. She enjoyed watching their reflections on the face of Phyllis the pond since it appeared from her angle that the clouds were upside down. She wondered if in the event of a storm the rain would fall up from the surface of the pond into the sky.

With food in her stomach, clouds in the sky and a father who was not capable of noticing her absence, Luna leaned back against the shore. She wished the world were a nicer place. Death Eaters were most definitely nasty business, and she knew her friend Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys were targeted. Ginny's older brother Percy and his wife Penelope were murdered just last month during the assassination of the newly elected Minister Scrimgouer.

It was very sad. Luna was playing with Ginny in the yard when the family clock must have spiked to mortal peril for Percy, before plummeting into death. They could hear Mrs. Weasley's horrified, despairing cry all the way out into the yard by the ancient oak tree where Ginny and Luna were braiding each other's hair. It had been a terrible day.

Why, even just just a week ago death eaters attacked Susan Bones's family, although Professor Dumbledore and his dashing Order of the Phoenix members were able to save her.

Thinking such dark thoughts did not appeal to Luna on his beautiful summer afternoon, nonetheless the fear lingered in the back of her mind. "I do wish so wish someone would come and make it all better," she said softly to herself as her eyelids grew heavy. "Just like Mum always did."

Accompanied by the symphony of crickets and whistling willows, Luna Lovegood drifted off to sleep.

A moment later—a moment that was evidently comprised of several hours—Luna Lovegood opened her eyes onto a beautiful summer evening replete with a galaxy of stars stretching overhead. It looked for all the world as if she were staring into a giant blue-black bowl lined in fairy dust.

She parted her lips and laughed at the sheer beauty of it.

Then she saw a particle of fairy dust falling. It sparkled like a diadem in the sky, flashing with different colors. She sat up, intrigued. "Is that a heliopath?" she whispered.

Alas, it was not a heliopath. Rather, it soon took on the shape of a falling star, though one falling a bit more directly than Luna was accustomed too. It did not skim across the sky so much as pierce it like an arrow, heading toward a spot remarkably close to where Luna currently stood.

She backed up a step as the sparkling resolved itself to a distant ball of flame. After a moment, the flame faded away and at first glance it appeared to have disappeared. However, Luna was accustomed to giving everything several glances beyond merely the first glance, and continued to stare intently into the night sky until she saw some stars that she was fairly certain should not move quickly, did in fact move quite quickly.

Then she realized these were not stars, but lights like she saw on those strange muggle automatic mobiles her friend Hermione often spoke of. The lights were attached to what looked possibly like wings, and the wings were attached to something long and sleek.

It was dropping straight toward Phyllis the pond.

An outside observer might have been concerned at Luna's proximity to a pond, regardless of that pond's name, that appeared to be the target of a large object falling quickly from the sky. However, Luna felt this was a perfect opportunity to see how muggle aeronautical planes landed, for she was certain now that this was such an object.

Imagine her surprise when she discovered that muggle aeronautical planes were capable of _leviosa_ spells, since even with her brilliant imagination she could not think of any other method by which an object could slow so quickly.

However, the muggle version of the spell evidently had a different set of consequences than the magical version, of which the only consequence was if you levitated an object high and then stepped under it when the spell ended.

In this case, the consequence was a ferocious and quite loud metallic squeal followed very shortly after loud snap, and then by a spectacular explosion from the poor rump of the aeronautical plane. Luna enjoyed how the orange fire flared over the water both on top, and by way of its reflection, underneath the face of Phyllis the pond.

The heat from the explosion was of course somewhat uncomfortable, and a blast of hot air pushed against her, but she thought this an acceptable price to pay in order to see such a pretty display of pyrotechnics.

Sadly, the show ended abruptly, for as soon as the fireball ripped through the hind end of the plane, it fell rather like a large brick directly into the water. A large wave rippled up the shore and over her bare feet. She wiggled her toes. The water seemed warmer than it should have been.

She pulled her wand from behind her left ear, placed its tip in the water, and said, "_Aqua congelo!_"

The water around her wand turned instantly white, and then spread across the face of Phyllis the pond as the water froze. The increased volume of ice versus water pushed the muggle aeronautical plane up from where it was sinking, and then kept it elevated at a nice angle.

Luna stood and wiggled her feet against the ice. With a murmured warming spell for her feet, she stepped out into the icy surface of the pond and walked calmly toward the muggle device. She reached what looked like a window, and as she did she saw a figure inside. She tapped on the glass with her wand, but nothing happened. "_Alohamora_!" she said, and the window popped open with a hiss.

She leaned over and saw that the figure inside wore a large helmet and a beautifully colored orange jumpsuit. He was secured very firmly in the seat with straps that only opened at Luna's insistence, and a spell.

The figure fell forward against the deadened buttons of his craft.

Luna levitated the unconscious figure onto the ice and then laid him out. He did not appear to be broken, insofar as Luna could tell, but she did spot a bit of blood running down his forehead. With some effort, she undid the overly complicated straps of his helmet and pulled it off.

"Hello," she said brightly.

The figure was a very handsome-looking boy with short red hair. The hair was red enough, in fact, that Luna at first thought he was a Weasley. But for course he was much too handsome for that. His skin did not have the pale complexion the Weasley's had. In fact, it looked tanned, almost bronzed.

The cut on his head did look somewhat painful. As a pending fifth year, Luna should not have known anything more than a basic healing charm. Naturally, she knew several. She touched her wand to the boy's head and spoke the spell, and watched as the cut healed. However, the boy did not wake up.

She heard a peculiar sound at that moment, and looked up to see several lights shining in the sky. She quickly put down the idea of more heliopaths and realized rather these were helly-choppers, another muggle flying device. They were obviously coming to look at the aeronautical plane.

With a casual _finite_ the ice covering Phyllis the pond puffed away with a few stray clouds of vapor. The aeronautical plane with its open window sank quickly down into the murky water, until only the tip of one wing protruded.

"Do you wish to go back to the muggles?" Luna asked the unconscious boy.

With the help of two delicate fingers from her left hand, the boy shook his head _no_. "Well, alright then," she said brightly. She levitated the boy, then placed her basket of partially eaten bread on his stomach like a cart, and walked back into the woods from whence she came.

Luna could not have expressed what thought possessed her to stay in the woods. Nor would she have tried, since to do so would have implied conscious thought being expended in the effort to express a thought. Rather, she drifted lazily through the trees toward the cylindrical structure that housed her father, herself, and the _Quibbler_. For this reason alone she did not see the convoy of muggle military vehicles that came barreling up the country road from Ottery St. Catchpole. The vehicles ground to a halt and a veritable horde of muggles in oddly dressed matching uniforms carrying the strangest black wands and staffs rushed through the woods toward the pond.

The soldiers fanned out through the woods and moved at an impressive pace, especially in comparison to the lackadaisical pace of the wandering Luna Lovegood with her levitating companion. However, just when one of the muggles caught sight of the strange vision through his even stranger goggles that appeared to be spelled for night vision, Luna by a stroke of good fortune stepped across the wards of the Lovegood property.

To the muggle, the sight of the startling blonde girl and the strange object behind her disappeared not just from his vision, but from his mind as well. The search through the woods continued, although the perimeter of the search as seen from the muggle devices in space contained a rather large hole in roughly the shape of the Lovegood estate.

Luna for her part noticed the strange men running up behind her, but did not care. They did not appear to be death eaters, and so it did not matter. She levitated the strange, handsome boy into her house.

"Hello, father," she said as she passed by her father's office.

Xenophilius Lovegood looked up with rheumy eyes from the article he was working on. "Hello, Turnip. Who is that?"

"A muggle boy I saw fall from the sky. May I keep him? He's quite handsome. I think I shall name him Ollivarius Dumplesnort."

"A most outstanding name," her father agreed. "You should not do magic outside of school, cucumber."

"Mother removed the registry of my wand when I was six, remember father?"

"Oh, yes."

"Did you eat?" Luna asked.

"Eat?" the elder Lovegood said, blinking. His answer provided sufficient proof that the thought never even occurred to him.

Luna took the basket off the stomach of young Ollivarius Dumplesnort and placed a large piece of bread next to her father. "Eat, father."

"Yes, daughter."

With that, she levitated her new friend further into her home and carried him up the stairs to her room. She put him on the bed, and then stared at his strange clothes. After a moment of consideration, she walked back down stairs and to the fireplace. With a pinch of floo powder, she said, "The Burrow!" and stepped through.

She emerged into the center of a lovely food fight in which the Weasley twins were apparating back and forth while throwing Brussels sprouts at anyone nearby. Ginerva Weasley was laughing brilliantly as she guessed with surprising accuracy where her brothers would pop-back and pelted them with chocolate frogs, while Ron banished pumpkin juice at them.

In the center, Molly Weasley was screaming at them all to stop before she had them degnoming the garden for a year, and Arthur Weasley sat in a comfortable older chair off to the side of the titanic battle reading the _Daily Prophet_.

"Mr. Weasley, how could you?" Luna asked.

Her normally quiet voice pierced through the room and the fight came to an abrupt stop. Everyone looked at the Weasley patriarch, who in turn looked around in alarm. "Luna, what is wrong?"

"How can you read that terrible paper?" Luna demanded as she marched across her friend's living room and took it from his hands. "Don't you know it is part of the Rotfang Conspiracy? The advertisement for magical dentists should have given it away!"

"Err, sorry," Arthur said as he looked for help from his family.

"Luna, dear, is everything okay?" Molly asked. The screaming of a moment ago was forgotten.

Luna quite liked Molly Weasley. She reminded her of her own mum, only taller, larger, louder, less powerful, not nearly as beautiful, with a large mole on her lower left cheek, and with red hair.

"Yes, please. Could Ginny come spend the night with me? I have a boy who fell from the sky and I need her help taking his clothes off for bed."

"Okay!" Ginny called quickly.

"Wait one moment," Molly said. "What is this about a boy?"

"I think he may actually be a heliopath," Luna whispered conspiratorially.

"Oh, well, okay then," Molly said. She knew there were no such things, so naturally it was all a figment of Luna's imagination. Poor girl.

"You don't mind, Ginny?"

Ginny, who like Luna was also sixteen, smiled brightly. "Sure, I'd love to Luna. Let me just get some things." She ran up stairs, and only a few minutes later emerged with a bag thrown over her shoulder. Molly ducked into the kitchen, and by the time Ginny arrived and also returned with a large basket of leftovers from dinner.

"You and Xenophilius never eat enough," Molly said. "Take this. At least Ginny won't starve."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Luna said.

"Thanks, Mum," Ginny added.

The two girls threw in their powder, and moments later emerged back into the Lovegood residence. "Father, have you eaten your bread?" Luna asked.

She checked, and saw it was indeed gone. Her father was scribbling away on the paper.

"Come on, you'll have to help me take the boy's clothes off," Luna said.

"What's this about boys and clothes?" Xenophilius said, drawn at last from his work.

"Ollivarius Dumplesnort, my pet muggle," Luna explained patiently. "You said I could keep him."

Xenophilius blinked. "I did?"

"You did. You had a very good reason to allow me to keep him."

"What reason was that?"

"I'm sure I have no idea," Luna said. "But since you allowed it I'm sure it was a very good reason."

"Of course," Xenophilius said. He looked off beyond the girl's shoulders. Ginny turned and followed his gaze, and saw nothing. "Get along, then."

Luna quietly placed a cookie on her father's desk and the two girls walked up the stairs. "Father's been very busy," Luna said. "Minister Bone's monocle cannot be tolerated. Our article will be quiet explosive, I have no doubt."

Ginny, having grown up around the Lovegoods, giggled until they reached Luna's room.

There lay the muggle, Ollivarius Dumplesnort, in his strange orange suit.

"Merlin's beard!" Ginny swore. "You really do have a boy up here!" She looked closer, and grinned. "He's quite the looker, isn't he? What's wrong with him?"

"Bumped his head when he fell," Luna said. She ran a finger down the line of one of the strange straps that covered his chest, until the finger came down to his belt and touched a strange silver cylinder. "It's quite large, isn't it?" Luna said dreamily.

Ginny's eyes widened, and then she flushed the color of a heliopath and giggled. "You naughty girl! What is it?"

Luna lifted it and saw it was hooked to a belt. With a look at Ginny, she thought the best way to remove the cylinder attached to the belt was to take the belt off the boy. So, with long fingers she relieved the boy of his belt and carried it and the cylinder attached to it over to Ginny. "It looks like a muggle torch," Ginny said.

She took it and pointed it toward the wall. She flipped a switch fully expecting a beam of light to come out.

"That is a very strange torch," Luna said at the solid blue beam that emerged a meter from the cylinder. "It does make an agreeable sort of hum, don't you think?"

"Luna, this isn't a torch," Ginny said. She was strangely pale, which made her freckles stand out. However, Luna managed to look away from the freckles long enough to follow her friend's gaze.

The tip of the blue beam touched the edge of her wall, and was promptly burning through the stone. "How remarkable," Luna said.

Ginny flicked the switch and the blue went away. She carefully put the strange device on one of Luna's bookshelves. All the books were shelved upside down.

Only then did she turn and look down at the boy. "You said he fell down, Luna?"

"Yes, and from quite a distance," Luna said dreamily. She stepped back around the bed and started working on the boy's boots. "He was so high up at first I thought his aeronautical plane was on fire. But when it got closer the fire went away. Did you know muggle planes have _leviosa_ spells? It came to a stop right above the pond, and then exploded and fell down. I don't think their _leviosa_ spells work very well."

Ginny knew from her friend Hermione that the muggles did not possess magic of any kind. She doubted a muggle jet plane could come to a complete stop if it fell as fast as Luna seemed to be saying. She jumped at the thud caused by Luna dropping the first boot. "What are you doing?"

"Taking his clothes off, of course," Luna said. "He can't very well sleep in his clothes, can he?"

"He may not appreciate us stripping him," Ginny pointed out.

Luna stopped work on the boot and moved until she leaned her face just inches from his. "Ollivarius, do you mind if we take all your clothes off to get you ready for bed?"

Ginny couldn't help the smirk when Luna's left hand came around as if sneaking past its owner to shake the unconscious boy's head. She stood and grinned, and for the first Ginny caught a hint of a blush on Luna's face. "He doesn't mind a bit."

"You really want to take this boy's clothes off?"

Luna's smile turned as mischievous as anything Ginny had ever seen. "Don't you?"

"If Mum finds out, she'll kill us."

"She's not my mum," Luna said as she started working on the other boot.

With flaring cheeks, Ginny said, "Alright." The two attractive sixteen-year-old girls proceeded to strip the unconscious boy down.

"This is rather more difficult than I thought it would be," Ginny said halfway into it. They had his strange jumpsuit off, but he wore clothes underneath that they were having trouble with because he was so completely unconscious. "I sure hope he's not badly hurt. Shouldn't we floo St. Mungos?"

Luna shrugged. "He feels okay," she said. "He's healing. Can't you feel it?"

Ginny shrugged, and they tackled his pants.

In the end, the two girls stood side by side, cheeks flaming and eyes wide, staring at the nude male form of the boy.

"It's not as large as I thought it would be," Luna said. She did not sound disappointed.

"It's larger than you might think."

"Ginerva Weasley, how would you know that?" Luna demanded.

"Brothers, Luna. Six brothers. Think about it." Ginny turned back and stared. "Five now," she added softly. She forced a grin. "So what are we going to do?"

Luna began shrugging off her clothes. "I'm going to sleep with him."

"You are not!"

Without a hint of modesty or embarrassment, Luna slipped out of her knickers and stood in the stark. Ginny stared with a weak smile, and then watched as Luna climbed into bed next to the unconscious boy. Her pale body stood out starkly against the bronzed color of the boy's skin. It made him look like a Mediterranean Frenchmen. She pulled a blanket up around them.

"Do you want to join us?" Luna asked.

Ginny blinked and looked around. "Luna, I'm not really sure about this. I mean, we're only sixteen. I'm not sure should be doing this."

"Doing what?" Luna asked with open innocence. "We're going to sleep."

"I can't."

"That's okay," Luna said. "Thank you for helping me, Ginny. You can still stay if you want."

"No, that's okay, I'll head home," Ginny said. "Floo me tomorrow."

"I will." Luna yawned and placed an arm against the boy's chest. "Good night."

Ginny shook her head in astonishment, cheeks flaring red, and then left.

* * *

Author's Note #2: Don't let this chapter fool you. This is not a happy-go lucky HP romp. I don't do happy-go lucky. But hopfully it is something you will enjoy.


	2. The Boy Who Woke Up Next to a Naked Girl

**Chapter Two: The Boy Who Woke Up Next To A Naked Girl **

The most peaceful times in his youth—those precious few peaceful times—were when his mother held him to her bosom and rocked him. The warmth of her arms around his body and her chin by his head, and the musk of her, filled his whole being until he drifted off into a deep, peaceful slumber.

These moments were rare. His mother was not a touchy person. Yet the rarity merely ensured the value of those few times when she pulled him into her arms and held on tight. He loved her so much.

A memory arose then: a tear in his soul; a desperately needed light going out. Her body sprawled on the ground, unmoving. Red hair tugging in the passage of air through the tunnel. Those arms held him once. Those hands ran through his hair fondly once. Those hands, those arms, were so very, terribly still.

He moved away from the darkness—from the memory of death to the memory of life. The smell of fruit. The sensation of touch, the heat of skin.

The feel of a breast pressing gently against his arm.

Even in his sleep, he gulped. He had never felt a woman's skin against his bare skin, but he instinctively knew that if he had, it would feel like what he felt at that moment.

The feel of a warm leg hanging over his thigh, just inches from…

Blue eyes snapped open. He turned and saw a tangle of white-blonde hair hanging over his shoulder, with just the hint of a face hidden underneath the long locks. Bare arms draped in sleep over his equally bare chest, and he could feel her body pressed against him.

They were both completely nude.

His first instinct was to scramble out of the bed he was obviously laying in and get away from whoever it was who had him so thoroughly wrapped up. He stilled the need to flee with a deep breath to center himself. Instead, he forced himself to observe his surroundings. He frankly expected to be dead.

Everything stilled within him. Was he dead?

The beat of his heart and the sound of his breath quickly stilled that thought. He had seen enough death; felt enough death in those he loved and those he battled, to recognize it. He was very much alive.

Then his consideration fell to the young woman lying against him. Her skin was very pale and silky smooth. She appeared to be human, and young. Perhaps not much older than he himself was. A raging thought trilled through his mind. Did they…were they intimate?

He was a virgin, and yet he had to believe that he knew his own body well enough to be able to recognize if something like that had happened, even if he did not remember. He mentally went through his physiology, consciously checking heart rate, blood pressure. He took a long breath but his nostrils detected nothing but the scent of fruit that seemed to come from the girl's hair so close to his face. There was nothing to indicate he had been intimate with her.

The smell of her was somehow familiar, though he could not determine why.

The girl's breath quickened by a miniscule amount. He tasted her in the Force and stilled his shock when he sensed that she glowed with power. As powerful as any apprentice he had ever known. He could sense her thoughts whirling in her mind even as she slept. He did not know what she was thinking; only that she was.

Her hand began to move, drifting down his chest, down his stomach, moving ever further south.

The time for calm was over. With a startled yelp and a flurry of kicking limbs and flying sheets, Ben Skywalker jumped out of the bed. His eyes sought the pile of clothes by the door and without conscious thought he summoned his flight suit and started yanking it on.

The girl yawned as she leaned up and wiped sleep from her eyes. She let her hand drop and stared at the strange boy hopping on one foot while he tried frantically to pull his clothes on. He managed to get into the suit, turned and stared at her as she stared back. The blanket had fallen off her shoulders and exposed her. She could not have been much older than he was, and he felt heat flooding his face as he promptly turned around and faced the window.

"I don't know what kind of customs you have here," he said in Basic, "but we don't bare ourselves to strangers."

He heard fabric sliding over skin. In the reflection of the window he watched as she got dressed. She was thin and pale and yet surprisingly curvy as well, with startling silver eyes. She was as beautiful as any girl he'd ever seen, and somehow they woke up together naked in the same bed.

He turned when he saw she was dressed. She stood and stared back with a slightly vacant expression. "Are you a droid?" he asked. "An HRD?"

She shrugged, stepped around the bed, and removed a small stick from the tangle of her hair.

The stick, like the girl, swirled with Force energy. She placed the stick gently to his mouth and said a word that had no meaning to him. The Force surged against him and then just as quickly settled back into the odd whirling pattern that permeated the room. "What was that?" he asked.

"The _omni lingua_ spell," the girl said in an airy voice. "I couldn't understand that strange sound you were making. Now we can talk to each other. You're a wizard then? I saw you do wandless magic."

Ben blinked down at this strange, beautiful creature. "I'm a Jedi. I used the Force."

"Oh, alright then," she said. She lifted a basket from the floor and placed it on the bed. "Would you like something to eat?"

She sat down on the bed and patted a spot for him. Instead of immediately accepting the offer, Ben quickly circled the room. The room bothered him not just because of the Force energy that seemed imbued in everything. What bothered him was that there were no right angles. Everything in the room just seemed to fit haphazardly together at every odd angle conceivable.

His nose caught a whiff of baked goods and his stomachs betrayed his common sense with a loud, insistent growl. The girl stood and with confidence bordering on indifference she took his hand, led him back to the bed and sat him down.

"My name is Luna Lovegood," she said. She reached into the basket and removed some type of pastry. "And this is Mrs. Weasley's steak and kidney pie."

"Thank you," he said as he accepted the pie. He had no idea what was in it, but his nose told him it was edible, and the Force told him this strange girl meant him no harm. He took a bite, surprised that it was still warm and stunningly delicious.

"So, Ollivarius, what shall we do today?"

Ben tried not to choke on his pie. "Ollivarius?"

"That's your name, of course," Luna said calmly. She sat down next to him and smiled calmly. "Ollivarius Dumplesnort."

"Is Ollivarius Dumplesnort a normal name around here?"

"Normal?" Luna asked. "Why would that be normal?"

"My name is Ben Skywalker."

The smile immediately inverted. "Skywalker? Are you sure? You certainly look like an Ollivarius Dumplesnort to me."

"I assure you that Ben Skywalker was the name given to me at my birth," Ben said. "I've not changed it since."

She sighed loudly. "Oh bother! Still, Skywalker is a nice enough name, I suppose. And you are nice boy, aren't you? I can see that you are a nice boy."

For a brief moment, Ben saw the faces of all those he'd killed flash before him and the pie dropped. "I try to be nice," he was finally able to say.

Luna stared back at him owlishly, and for a brief moment it felt like when his mother stared at him whenever he said something that wasn't entirely true. It was as if she were staring past his face and into his soul.

"So," she said abruptly as she changed topics, "my father said I could keep you. But I suppose I should ask you first. Is it alright if I keep you? We don't have to sleep together starkers if you don't want to. I find sleeping without clothes makes for better dreams, but I could wear a shirt if it makes you feel better."

Ben had difficulty swallowing. "You do things a bit different around here, don't you? Do you know where my ship is?"

"Is that what you call it?" Luna said with a frown. "I thought they were called aeronautical planes. But you call them ships? What do you call ships, then? Helly-choppers?"

As pretty as she was, Ben began to think that something about Luna Lovegood was off. "Do you know where it is? My ship, I mean?"

"It's in Phyllis."

This time Ben did choke. "I crashed on someone?"

"No, silly," Luna said with a giggle. "Phyllis is a pond."

He quickly finished the meat pie since he did not know how long it would take to find his ship, then searched until the room until his eyes fell on the comforting sight of his lightsaber. He stood and strapped it on. Only then did he notice the rest of his clothes on the floor. "Why did you strip me?"

"So you would be naked," Luna answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "Oh, I need to floo Ginny."

"Who's Ginny?" Ben asked with a sense of dread.

"The girl who helped me take off your clothes," Luna replied.

It took every bit of his Force training for Ben not to fall down onto the floor and die of embarrassment. Instead, he allowed the strange girl to take his hand and lead him down a decidedly crooked set of stairs to the bottom floor of the strangely crooked tower-structure. Off the bottom floor was a room filled with archaic flimsiplasts and an emaciated man with a long, straggly white beard wearing robes. He was sound asleep on a desk and snoring like a Wookiee.

"That's my father," Luna said. "He was up last night working on the paper. He'll wake around noon." He noticed she had the basket of food in her hand. She took one of the meat pies out and placed it on the desk near his elbow.

He watched for her to activate their house com system. Instead she walked to an honest-to-goodness wood fireplace and threw some strange powder into the fire that burned there. The power must have had copper in it, since the flame turned green. "The Burrow. Ginny Weasley."

Ben jumped back when a young girl's face appeared in the flames. "Luna, did you?"

"No," Luna said with a shrug. "He woke up and put his clothes on very quickly. It was a very peaceful sleep, though. I haven't slept like that since Mum died."

_Since Mum died_. Ben's breath caught in his throat, and he found himself staring at this girl. She stood perfectly still, centered as if in a Force meditation. And yet in that one casual sentence, she linked herself to him in a way more personal than anyone else could imagine.

The fire flared a brighter shade of green, and Ben's moment of pensiveness ended abruptly when he watched the other girls' face disappear, only to be replaced a moment later by the girl herself. She had hair even redder than his own, but with pale skin like the blonde girl. Both appeared to be in their mid teens, much like him.

She saw him standing there, and from the hue of her blush he knew. She had seen him naked.

"Hi!" she said with forced cheerfulness. "My name is Ginny Weasley." She held out a hand.

He took it and she shook vigorously. Like Luna, Ginny appeared to glow with Force energy, though not to the same extent.

"His name is not Ollivarious Dumplesnort," Luna said sadly. "It's Bent Nightwalker."

Ben blinked. "Ben," he corrected. "Ben Ni…er, Skywalker."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ginny said. He could see she was fighting desperately to not snigger. Her cheeks were now exploring new, as of yet undiscovered hues of red bordering on the edge of the ultraviolet.

He sighed. "Look, I'm going to go back up those stairs," he said, "and put my clothes back on. When I come back, I would appreciate it if one of you could lead me back to me ship."

"I don't think you want to do that," Ginny said with suddenly wide eyes. All traces of humor or embarrassment faded. "There are muggle soldiers all over the woods."

"Muggles?" Ben asked.

"Soldiers?" Xenophilius said, sitting up from his sleep suddenly. "Where?"

"In the woods," Ginny said.

"All right, then," the editor of the Quibbler said. He then fell back forward into his sleep with sufficient force to bang his head, making them all wonder if the silence that followed was really sleep, or a deep concussion.

"Clothes first," Ben said. "Where's your fresher?"

"It's very fresh outside," Luna said.

"I think he means your loo," Ginny said. "Just to the right of her doorway."

Ben nodded and soared back up the stairs three steps at a time. He shut the door and noticed with chagrin that it had no locks. Still, it couldn't be helped.

The fresher was frighteningly primitive, with an ancient flush toilet that somehow did not actually appear connected to any plumbing. Nonetheless, water came out and it worked well enough. Once he was back into his dark training clothes, he found himself staring into the mirror. For a very brief moment, the clothes reminded him of his old GAG uniform, but he quickly suppressed that thought. That part of his life was forever behind him.

He folded his flightsuit into the self-contained pack and attached it as a soft orange cylinder to the back of his utility belt. He hung his lightsaber at his waist and checked his blaster. He did not use it very often, but liked to have one handy in case of an emergency.

When he walked back down the stairs, he was intensely conscious of two sets of eyes following his every step. When he walked up to the girls, Luna reached over delicate fingers and caressed the sleeve of his uniform. "This is quite pretty."

"Thank you," he said simply. "Can you show me to my ship, now?"

"I wish we had Neville's cloak," Ginny muttered. "I don't know the disillusionment spell."

"What?" Ben asked.

"A spell to keep the muggles from seeing us," Luna said.

"I'll take care of that," Ben said. His _beloved_ cousin had taught him more than enough about hiding in plain sight. "I take it these muggles are dangerous? What species are they?"

"Human, I think," Luna said.

"Muggle is the term for non-magical folk," Ginny supplied helpfully.

"Magic?" Ben stared from one to the other. "Okay, so that's what we'll call it." It was not unusual for primitive societies with Force-strong people to refer to the power as magic. That was obviously the case here.

The girls nodded and the two stepped out of the strange house just as Xenophilius began to snore again. The day beyond shone brightly through the trees that lined the country road. On the other side of the road stretched a pristine field of deep green grass. Ben blinked at what he saw, and felt the Force soak through his being. The place was so thick with it he felt almost as if he could fly.

"Where am I?" he finally asked.

"You're at my house," Luna supplied helpfully.

"I mean what planet?"

Ginny coughed. Luna merely blinked her silvery eyes. "What planet do you think you are on?"

"I was en route from Coruscant to Ossus," Ben said. "Then something…" He had to stop as a flash of memory struck with unusual thoroughness. Ben's eidetic memory did that sometimes, playing back a sequence of events so intensely he became lost in them.

He remembered a flash of light and a distortion in space before him, almost like a Vong dovin basil. Only from the center of the disturbance he saw a point of brilliant white, with a pit of black in the very center that made it look like a singularity.

"Ben?" Luna asked.

"I don't know where I am," he finally admitted. "My astromech must have brought me in."

Ginny's eyes were wide. "You're on Earth," she said weakly.

He shook his head. "Do you have any nav charts?" Ben asked. "How far to the nearest spaceport?"

"We don't have spaceports," Ginny said.

"An agricultural planet?" Ben asked. It explained the seemingly pristine nature of the world around him. "Do you have a holonet feed so I could contact my father for transport?"

"We don't have a holonet feed," Luna said.

"We don't have spaceships," Ginny said. "I mean, the muggles supposedly sent a man to the moon, or so Hermione says, but we don't have space ships that can take people to other planets. Are you really from another planet?"

Ben felt a deep pit of fear that he ruthlessly squashed down. "Can you please take me to my ship?"

Ginny nodded. Luna took his hand, and led him into the ancient forests that ran almost to the edge of her home.

Perhaps a hundred meters out, he crossed a line on the ground that burned with Force energy. The moment he crossed, he immediately sensed dozens of minds around them. They felt hard and professional. They felt like soldiers.

He tugged Luna's hand and took Ginny's arm. "Stay close to me," he said. He sank all of them into the Force, falling into a partial state of meditation. The three of them were still physically visible, they simply were not noticeable.

"He's put a notice-me-not charm on all of us," Luna whispered. "Wandlessly."

Ginny nodded. Ben, concentrating, ignored the talk. He nodded to Luna, who took his hand and started leading him once more into the woods.

They paused within spitting distance of at least a dozen heavily armed uniformed soldiers walking a carefully laid out picket duty. Though their weapons looked primitive, Ben could not fault their tactics or professionalism. They moved deliberately, with the measured steps and searching eyes of well-trained military men.

Finally, they arrived at the edge of the pond and that small pit of fear returned in the bottom of his stomach as a large fist.

Three primitive aircraft with duel gryroscopic rotors hovered over a sizable pond. Steel cables ran from the bellies of each metal beast to large nets that were rising slowly and steadily from the water. Caught in the midst of the nets was Ben's StealthX.

He could see from the shore that the entire sublight and hyperdrive block was completely gone. The stress of engaging in the last-minute braking action that saved his life overloaded every propulsion and repulsor system. Sitting in the center of the ship, he could see his borrowed astromech droid. R2-D2 was with his dad. He realized with a pang he did not even know this droid's designation.

The slave controller on the sleeve of his uniform gave a few squiggle sounds as he attempted to activate a self-destruct, but nothing happened. He briefly considered taking more aggressive action to stop it, but around the pond he could see dozens of the muggle soldiers, and in the Force he could sense even more. Their technology may not have been up to galactic standard, but they looked dangerous nonetheless.

His hand strayed to his lightsaber, but before he unhooked it he looked down at the two girls beside him. The blonde girl, Luna, was not looking at the ship or the gyrocraft. She was looking at him with an open, trusting expression. The redhead on his other side was staring raptly at the spectacle before them.

He knew any action he took would put them both at risk. He dropped his arm and shook his head. "This is not good," he said aloud.

"I'm sure we'll be able to get your aeronautical plane back," Luna said dreamily.

Ginny, however, looked scared at the thought. "Those are soldiers, Luna. They don't throw stunning spells. Dad says that muggle bullets can kill even wizards."

Luna shrugged. "I'm sure you're right."

Ginny huffed. "Let's get out of here."

Still sunk within the Force, Ben walked the girls back toward the Lovegood lands. Once past the strange line of Force energy, his sense of the soldiers faded to a dull presence in the background of the forest.

"That was a real spaceship, wasn't it?" Ginny asked as soon as they crossed the line.

Ben nodded. "It was also my only way home. I'm not even sure how I'm going to contact my father. Things are so bad right now—he must be going crazy looking for me. And if these soldiers are typical, they'll be searching for me."

"Things aren't too great here either," Ginny said. "Look, Ben, you should really come with me to the Burrow."

"Where is that?"

"Just down the road. It's my home. From there we can contact Professor Dumbledore. He'll know what to do."

Ben wrapped his lips around the name. "Dumbledore? So names like Dumbledore and Ollivarius Dumplesnort are common around here?"

"Her real name is Ginevra," Luna said.

"Stop it!" Ginny hissed. "Look, Ben, things aren't really all that safe around here."

"I'm sorry I brought the soldiers down on you," Ben began, and was surprised when the girl waved that off.

"We don't care that much about muggle soldiers. They can't cross our wards anyway. They don't even know we exist. So long as we don't bother them they won't bother us. No, there's…there's a war going on right now. A Dark Wizard and his followers are trying to take over the country. Luna's father has been targeted before because of his paper. We really need to get you someplace safe. Professor Dumbledore will know where. Will you come with us?"

"Leaving will make sleeping with him very inconvenient," Luna pointed out with a pout.

He stared at her in a puzzling mixture of horror and…was that excitement he was feeling? He turned to Ginny. "Okay, take me to the Burrow."

"We'll have to go by Floo," Ginny said.

The three of them returned to the cylindrical Lovegood home. Luna stepped up to her father and rubbed his back until he sat up and blinked. "What, hello, Ginny. Hello, Ollivarius. What is happening?"

"We're going to the Burrow," Luna said, perhaps a little sadly. "Father, we may not return soon. In fact, we may not return for some time. School starts in a week, and with the Death Eater attacks, it is safer to be in large groups."

Ben watched as the look of mystification fell away for a moment, to show a shrewd light in the old wizard's eye. "I know, my little rutabaga. I very much need you to be safe. Your mother would tan my hide if anything were to befall you."

He looked at Ben. "Ollivarius Dumplesnort, will you watch over my little girl? She's the only thing I have left in the world to love."

"My name is…er, yes. I suppose."

Xenophilius nodded. "Good. Now get along. And don't forget to send me those pictures of the crumple-horned snorkacks you owe me."

"I will, Father," Luna promised. She leaned over and kissed him on the edge of his beard and then walked to the fireplace. She grabbed a handful of green powder. "This is floo powder. You throw it in, state your destination, and then step into the flame."

"That's insane," Ben said.

"It's magic," Ginny corrected.

Luna threw the powder into the fire. "The Burrow!" she announced. She stepped into the greenish fire without hesitation and promptly disappeared.

Ben reached for her in the Force, but could not feel her in the immediate vicinity.

"It's not that bad," Ginny promised from behind. With a last glance back at the red-head, he grabbed a palm full of the powder and tossed it into the fire. "The Burrow!" he said. He felt a massive shudder run through the Force. Closing his eyes and praying for the Force to be with him, he stepped into the fire.

A moment later he felt his body shoved from the fireplace. He caught himself instantly on the balls of his feet and easily regained his footing. Luna Lovegood stood right before him and placed a steadying hand on his chest.

His eyes automatically sought the Force-presences he felt. Like the girls, all were powerful in the Force. And like Ginny, every single one of them was a red-head. From a scientific perspective, the thought of so many members of the same family all having identical coloring pointed to a possibility of in-breeding. Or at the very least two sets of unusually dominate genes.

"And who's this?" the matriarch of the group said.

"This is Ben Skywalker," Luna announced. "The boy I saw fall yesterday."

A moment later Ginny emerged. The matriarch smiled gently at Luna, then at Ben, then at Ginny. Then a sudden understanding seemed to strike as her eyes went absolutely flinty and her cheeks paled to the color of bone. "The boy who fell?" she asked. "He was real?"

"Of course," Luna said.

Those flinty eyes looked past Luna, fell on Ben only briefly, before focusing squarely on Ginny. "Ginerva Molly Weasley!" she said. Her voice quadrupled in decibels. "And Luna! Did you really…"

Ben suddenly understood. They didn't do things that differently around here. Just Luna.

He had to fight once more to keep from dying of embarrassment as everyone in the house realized that the two girls beside him had both seen him stark naked.


	3. The Death Eaters Who Ate Death

**Chapter Three: The Death Eaters Who Ate Death, And Found It Did Not Agree With Them**

"Are you hungry, dear?" Molly Weasley asked.

Having been a few hours since the meatpie that served as his breakfast, Ben nodded. He was trying very hard to get his bearings, but it was difficult. The Burrow was so completely opposite of anything in his experiences that he did not quite know how to respond to his surroundings.

Things moved constantly by themselves. He could see dishes in what had to be the kitchen floating up from a pile of soapy suds for an equally levitating brush to scrub. He saw what looked like a primitive broom sweeping dust in a corner all by itself. He saw a clock that did not tell time, but apparently had some type of Force-lock on the members of the family.

Most read "Home" or "Travel". He noticed one under the name Percy said, "Deceased".

He was also aware of the fact that Luna sat right next to him, uncomfortably close, and beyond her, five of the six other red-heads in the house stared at him intently. "So, you're the boy who fell," the patriarch said. "My name is Arthur Weasley. You've met my wife Molly. And you've obviously met Ginny."

He gave a hard stare at his youngest daughter, earning an appropriate flush of embarrassment in return. "These are the sons staying with us at the moment. The twins are Fred and George, and this is Ron. So, Ben, do you mind my asking what you fell from?"

Very honestly, Ben said, "Sir, I'm not sure I know how to answer that."

"Must be French then," the twin called George said. Fred added almost in the same breath, "That's why he doesn't want to talk about it. No one wants to admit being French."

Ginny said, "Dad, he's not from Earth."

"How Marvelous!" Arthur Weasley said with nervous excitement. "So he's from the Americas? Ever been to Boston?"

Ginny snorted and shook her head. However, behind Arthur, the twins and Ron were staring at Ben. "Mr. Weasley," Ben said, "I am not from this planet. I was en route to a planet called Ossus when something pulled me out of my hyperspace lane and caused me to crash on this world."

As Ben spoke, Molly made her way in from the kitchen with one hand on her chest.

Arthur's broad, slightly idiotic smile faded a little. He nervously started to stand, but then sat back down abruptly. "Well, now, that's a strange story," he finally said.

"I think it's my fault," Luna finally said. "I wished for someone to make things better. So my magic brought you."

"Oh dear, don't blame yourself," Molly said.

Luna blinked. "Blame? I was hoping to take credit. He is very powerful—he healed himself while he slept. It was very comforting to sleep with him. It felt like a blanket around me."

Six pairs of cheeks flushed almost exactly the same shade of red. "Young lady," Molly said, "that was a terribly inappropriate thing for you to do!"

"I felt safe," Luna said without even a trace of remorse as she stared unblinkingly back to Molly. "No nightmares. He shared his healing with me."

"He did a wandless Notice-me-not charm to get past all the soldiers when we went to see his ship," Ginny added with excitement.

"You're a wizard, then?" Arthur asked.

"Wicked!" Ron said. "Wizards from space!"

Arthur held up a hand. "Wait! Ginny, you said soldiers?"

"A hundred men," Ben said. "Well-armed, very professional. They were recovering my ship."

"Are the soldiers still there?"

"Yes," Ben said with certainty. "If they are anything like soldiers I know, they will go through the crash site in as fine a detail as they can in the hopes of recovering anything that might be of use. If what Ginny said was true, then the technology on that ship is likely several thousand years more advanced than anything you have here."

Run stared with a gaping mouth. "Wow."

"So what do we do, Arthur?" Molly asked. She unconsciously placed a hand on her husband's shoulder.

"We floo Albus, of course," Arthur said. "The Death Eater attacks have grown more brazen. He Who Must Not Be Named is regaining his followers. They killed a squib and his family outside of Yorkshire just three days ago. And we suspect that they may be trying to locate and target Order of the Phoenix members as well. Kingsley's old flat was burned to the ground just the other day."

"Well, you go floo Albus," Molly said. "Ben, dear, wherever you're from, I'm willing to wager you eat like any boy your age. "How old are you, by the way?"

"Sixteen, ma'am. Seventeen in a few months."

"Ginny's age!" Molly said. "Odd, I would have thought you were older. Do all kids where clothes like that?"

"I am a Jedi," Ben said. He saw blank faces. "We don't have magic or wizards. We have the Force, and Jedi. Some Jedi are called upon to serve at a young age."

There was more left unsaid, and everyone sensed it. "Well, you're hungry no doubt. I'll cook up some porridge for you in a jiffy while Arthur floos Dumbelore!"

As if on cue, Arthur Weasley stood up from his chair. He wore a strange, outlandish set of robes over slacks and a shirt with a tie. He nodded to Ben, then walked into the center of the living room and went for the floo powder.

Moments later, Molly returned with the porridge. Ben identified it as a sweetened grain and enjoyed the results. "Thank you," he said with genuine appreciation.

"And for you, Luna," Molly said. "Your father is well?"

"He's very busy," Luna said as she accepted the bowl and started to eat. She closed her eyes and projected happiness. "I do so love porridge."

"And that's not all," Ron snorted with a lascivious look at Ben.

Without hesitation, Ginny turned, whipped out her stick, and muttered something. There was a flash of light and when the light faded Ron's nose had flattened out and changed to that of an animal. "If you're going to talk like a pig you might as well look like one," Ginny said.

The twins cheered. "Brilliant, Ginny," George said.

"That one is new!" Fred said.

Molly stormed in. "Ginny Weasley, did you just hex your brother?"

Ben stared with a gaping jaw. Not even his father could transform someone the way the girl next to him did so very easily. More astounding yet was when Molly Weasley removed her own wand and with a spoken word removed the spell. Ron's nose changed back.

"Not funny, Ginny!" Ron said.

"Then be polite," Ginny said.

"I'm not the one who str…"

Fred and George both placed hands over their younger brother's mouth. "We've already lost one brother this summer," they said in unison.

Arthur wandered back into the dining area with a quizzical expression on his face. "What is it, dear?" Molly asked.

"I lost the connection to Albus," Arthur said. "And now I can't floo out at all."

Ben dropped his spoon. The Force roared a sudden warning to him. He stood and reached for his lightsaber. Nearby, the family clock chimed. Every name pulled into the same red stretch entitled, "Mortal Peril."

Arthur crouched down and removed his wand. "Death Eaters!" he hissed.

"We can't disapparate!" the twins announced.

"I don't understand what's happening," Ben said. "Why are we in danger?"

"We're under attack by Death Eaters," Arthur said. "Followers of the Dark Lord."

Ben scrambled to his feet. "You have a Sith here?"

"A what?" Molly asked.

"Get down, boy!" Arthur said urgently. "You and Luna, stay behind us!"

Everyone turned as brilliant white flight flashed outside the windows of the house. "Merlin." Arthur paled. "They've penetrated the wards."

The entire front of the house exploded suddenly. Ben had only a moment's warning through the Force, long enough to grab Luna and Ginny both and pull them to the ground. The rest of the Weasleys staggered under the vicious explosion.

Ben looked over his shoulder and saw black-robed figures sauntering in. Most wore silver masks over their faces. One, however, did not.

"Severus!" Arthur said as he scrambled to his feet.

The man named Severus stood at average height. He wore pure black robes, with lanky black hair that hung lifelessly from the sides of his head. Dark, burning eyes hung over a long, hooked nose. "Hello, Arthur," the man said with such overt malice Ben feared the words alone might be dangerous. "Did you really think the Dark Lord wouldn't get around to dealing with the likes of you?"

"You were one of us once, Severus!" Arthur said. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Severus asked with one arched brow. "_Crucio!_"

In the Force, it seemed as if Arthur was wrapped in a coil of Dark Side energy as strong as any Ben had ever encountered. The man cried out in agony as if suffering the Embrace of Pain. Nearby, Molly Weasley screamed, only to be cut down by a flash of purple light from a masked Death Eater. Where the light struck, Molly's chest erupted in blood and she dropped like a brick.

"Two Weasley's down," Severus said with a terrifyingly casual tone. "The rest to go."

Ben stood. There were ten attackers, all grouped around the opening of the room. "And what have we here?" Severus asked. "Another mudblood you're trying to shelter, Weasley? Dolohov."

Another masked man stepped forward, raised his wand, and said, "_Avada Kedavra_!"

Ben did not need to be a wizard to know instinctively this was a lethal burst of energy directed at him. He reacted as any Jedi would. With a flip of a switch he ignited his lightsaber, stepped aside in the event the energy was not deflectable, and swatted it back from whence it came.

Evidently, the magic was not so different from a blaster bolt. The green mass of dark side energy did indeed rebound with similar properties as a slow blaster bolt would, and struck the man named Dolohov dead in the center of his chest. Even Ben was surprised at how quickly he died. The green touched him and ripped the lifeforce out of him between his breaths.

Everyone stared as Ben stood with his humming lightsaber. "I've had enough with Dark Lords in my life," Ben said. "You will not harm these people."

"A little late for that," Severus sneered. Over his shoulder, he hissed, "Kill them all!"

* * *

Luna, who was just starting to pick herself up, heard Snape's words. Though normally not one to worry too much, she felt a sudden thrill of terror at the thought of losing her friends—at the thought of losing Ben, who helped her sleep so well. But she realized something as her silvery eyes caught a halo of power around the Boy Who Fell.

He had come to make things better.

He blurred into motion so fast it seemed at first as if he had disillusioned himself, though of course he had not. Rather, he threw his body through the air with aerobic grace with his humming torch flashing. A Death Eater's mask fell to the floor with the head still firmly attached, but Ben was already moving on. Three Death Eaters aimed their wands, only to be thrown across the room by a wave of the boy's hand. Another dropped his wand and choked while Ben merely pointed, until with a flick of his wrist the boy sent the Death Eater flying against the chimney so fast all of them could hear the snap of broken bones.

With the element of surprise so clearly reversed, Luna watched with pride as her friend Ginny stood and began throwing out hexes and curses at her attackers. Nearby the twins and Ron also started through their own curses, as did Arthur.

Having lost both the element of surprise and superior numbers, Snape and his three standing Death Eaters disapparated away. A moment later the three Ben pushed also disappeared with loud _POPS_.

As quickly as that, the battle was over.

"Molly!" Arthur said.

He rushed to her. Ben deactivated his saber and hung it from his belt.

Arthur was murmuring spells over his wife's wound, and the wound seemed to be responding. The elder Weasley looked up and saw Luna. "The _Quibbler_!" he said. "Luna, floo your father to come over right away!"

"Father?" Luna said. She froze. "Father's in danger."

Without thinking, Ben rushed to the sack of powder hanging over the fireplace and threw the powder in. "Lovegood residence!"

The fire turned green for only a moment before sputtering down to a normal flame. "The floo won't connect," Ginny explained. "We need to get there!"

"No!" Arthur called. "Not without other Order members to back us up! It could be an ambush!"

"I can't lose father too!" Luna said. She rushed toward the door. "Here!" Ginny called. "Take my broom!"

"Ginny, don't let her go!" Arthur called, but it was too late.

Ben rushed after.

"Fred, George, go after her!" the Weasley patriarch ordered.

The twins obeyed without a word.

"What are you going to do with that broom?" Ben asked when he caught up with Luna outside.

Luna placed it between her legs and put her feet against the odd braces on either side. "Come on!" she said. Having seen too much already to question anything, he climbed on and was stunned to feel a repulsor-like cushion around the stick of the broom. A second later, they were airborne and moving a respectable clip. It was almost like flying the swoop he kept in the storage bin of his fighter.

A second later he saw the twins flying on their own brooms on either side.

"No," Luna said. "No, no, no, no, no, no." The word became a litany. Ben looked over her shoulder and saw a dark line of smoke rising from the trees in the distance. He suddenly remembered the story his father told him, of when he left home with Ben's name-sake. How Luke arrived at his home to find a trail of smoke rising from the bodies of his aunt and uncle.

He held Luna closer. "There are still Death Eaters there!" Fred said.

Ben reached out with his senses and felt four of the Dark Siders in or around the home.

They were perhaps twenty meters up now. "Don't let her go down until I signal you," Ben called to the twins.

"What 'you mean, mate?" George called.

Ben smiled, and then slipped off the broom. As he fell, he called on the Force and like before it came in abundance like he had never felt before. It was so strong here!

He slowed himself down with an intense Force-push until he landed in a roll just a meter in front of the first Death Eater. A quick swipe of his lightsaber and the man fell. Another at the door of the Lovegood house turned and pointed his wand. Ben Force-pulled him across the road and removed his head while he tumbled in the air before darting into the home.

The interior had been thoroughly destroyed. One Death Eater was at the top of the stairs. Ben pulled his blaster and fired not at the man, but at the stairs. The wall and stairwell blew out completely and the man fell four meters with a hard thud.

The second man shouted out a spell before even Ben could respond. He felt a ripping in his side and jumped free of the assault. He landed in a roll and threw his saber in a graceful curve that intersected the man's neck. He summoned his blade back, and only then looked down.

"Bloody hell," Ben muttered. It looked very much like someone had taken a saw to his stomach. The cuts were only half an inch deep, but he knew that if he had not jumped when he did, they could have gone deeper. The pain of the spell immediately assaulted his mind.

He just as quickly drew on the Force to slow his bleeding and shunt the pain to the back of his mind. He had other things to do. He started looking for Luna's father when he felt the twins at the door. "It's over," Ben said.

Fred, then George, poked their heads in. "That was bloody wicked, Ben!" George called.

"Yeah, mate, where'd you learn to do that?" Fred said.

Luna stepped in between them, her face a stony mask, and the twins fell silent. She walked unerringly through the rubble and debris, into the side office, and pointed with her wand while chanting _Wingardium Leviosa_. A large piece of plaster lifted away, revealing the crumpled form of Xenophilius Lovegood underneath.

Ben stepped forward until he stood right beside her. "He ate his pie, so at least he wasn't hungry," she said in an empty voice.

Then she turned, buried her head in Ben's chest, and cried so hard her whole body shook from it. The twins watched in silence and Ben had little choice but to put an arm around her shaking shoulders. "I'm sorry," he said.

Suddenly Luna stepped back. "You're hurt!" she cried frantically. "George, Fred, he's hurt! Call St. Mungos. Please, I can't loose Ben too!"

"It's all right," Ben assured her. "I've already stopped the bleeding."

"Right, how'd you do that?" Fred asked.

Ben ignored them as he looked into the girl's silvery-grey eyes. "Luna, I'm not going anywhere," he said. He reached out with the Force and touched her mind, and was astounded when that mind reached back and clasped onto his. The connection was terrifying in its power. This girl was easily as Force strong as he was. Perhaps even more.

"You'll stay with me?" Luna asked. The words somehow echoed in his mind through the Force.

"Until you're safe," Ben said. "I can't promise any more than that."

Luna nodded. Tears ran down from her eyes. With the swelling of her nose and the ruddy, grieving blush to her cheeks, she actually had some color. "It's enough," she said. "Thank you."

The cracked fireplace flared with green fire, and a whole group of strangely dressed wizards poured through. At the lead was a hideously scarred man with an artificial eye and an obviously false leg. "Well, looks like we're late to the party," he said as he took in the condition of the house.


	4. The Boy Who Was Rather More Than A Boy

**Chapter Four: The Boy Who Was Rather More Than Just a Boy**

Ben Skywalker stepped out from the fireplace and fought back the disorientation that came with the strange, magical method of travel. Luna emerged a step behind and clung desperately to his arm while the Weasley twins and the late cavalry came behind.

The scarred man, whom George referred to as Professor Moody, stepped roughly past Ben. "Arthur, everyone okay?"

"Molly's been hit with a weak slicing spell," Arthur said. "We need to get her to St. Mungos!"

"Nonsense," came the voice of Molly Weasley from behind a couch. Ben saw a lump of red hair, and a moment later the Weasley matriarch stood up. Her dress was somehow cleaned of the blood, and the long slash across her chest appeared gone. "I'll be fine. Arthur knows some fairly advanced healing spells. Have to with a family this big." She saw Luna clinging to Ben's arm with tears still glistening on her cheeks, then saw Ben's stomach. "My goodness, Ben! Are you all right?"

Moody turned and glared at Ben while the rest of the wizards stepped up to study him. "What kind of spell did you use to stop the bleeding?"

"I just ordered the blood to not go to that area," Ben explained. "Are you people the wizard authorities?"

"Who is this whelp?" another of the wizards said. It was a taller man with dark skin and what looked almost like animal skin robes.

"He's the one who killed at least two of Snape's men and drove the rest off, Kingsley," Arthur said firmly. "I owe the lives of my family to him."

"And he killed those four at Luna's house," George added.

Molly sighed, understanding now. "Oh, Luna dear." She ignored everyone in the room and pulled the bereaved girl into her arms. "I'm so sorry!"

"He ate his pie, so he wasn't hungry," was all Luna was able to say before her face was buried deeply into Molly Weasley's bosom.

The new wizards, five in all, gave Ben an appraising look while doing their best to ignore the display. "Who are ya, then, boy?" Moody demanded. "I've not seen your face at Hogwarts."

"I am Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances," Ben said.

"Good for you," Moody said with a dismissive wave when he failed to recognize any of the terms. He turned back to Arthur. "We need to get your whole group to the safe house. The wards 'round this place are gone."

"We know," Arthur said. "Ron and Ginny have been gathering our things. We're going to the Order house, then?"

"Right away," Moody said. He turned to the others. "We can't floo into the headquarters, so we're going to have to Portkey nearby and walk. Voldemort's cronies don't know exactly where the house is since it's under a Fidelius charm, but they know the general neighborhood. So don't be surprised if we have some company waiting for us."

"Alastor," Arthur said, "was anyone else hit?"

"You and the Lovegoods are it so far," Moody said. "But it was bad enough. Lovegood may have been a bit loose in the head, but he was a firm supporter. He managed to work in more articles trying to help us than any other publication in Europe. Those diatribes about Fudge's hats and Scrimgouer being a vampire also included enough legitimate points to help us when we needed it." He turned to Luna. "He was a good man, and he will be missed."

Still caught up in a crushing hug by Molly Weasley, Luna nodded, understanding perhaps more than Ben the kind message implied in Moody's gruff words.

Just then Ron and Ginny appeared at the stairs draped in bags. "We got as much as we could," Ron said. "Clothes for everyone."

"That's enough for now," Arthur said. With a flick of his wand and a muttered spell, the bags all shrank to a mere percentage of their size, small enough to fit in pockets. Ben just shook his head, five steps beyond mere amazement. If it weren't for the fact that the Weasley family physically took the shrunken luggage and put it in their pockets, he would have sworn it was merely an illusion.

"Come along, now," Arthur said. "Alastor, do you have the portkeys?"

The scarred warrior reached into the pockets of his coat and out pulled a pair of…socks? Ben stared at the items of clothing in confusion, before turning to Luna. "What is this?"

Luna smiled sadly up at him, her eyes still glistening with tears. "We can't apparate to a house under a Fidelius charm. So we'll have to travel by portkey."

"First group gather 'round," Moody said. Ben watched, astounded, as two of the older wizards and four of the Weasleys reached out, grabbed one of the socks, and disappeared in a fluctuation of Force energy unlike anything he had felt before.

"All right, everyone else," Moody said. "Gather 'round."

Ben, Luna, Ginny, Arthur, Moody, and the two other wizards that came with moody gathered in a semi-circle. "Are you sure this is safe?" Ben asked.

"What, afraid of going fast?" Moody asked with a snort.

"You have no idea," Ben said.

"It'll be okay," Luna assured him. She took his hand and guided his fingers to the sock. The others reached as well, and when seven hands had a firm grasp on the object, Ben felt a sudden tug in his stomach and pull of indescribable power. It felt like accelerating to quarter-sublight with the dampeners dialed down to half-power.

Just as quickly the pull ended and Ben found himself falling uncontrollably. Still, training and experience overcame the sense of panic. The Force-sensation still remained, so he knew that even as he fell he was somehow still under the influence of this strange magic.

The world spun chaotically around him, but what he could pick up were buildings of every size and descriptions, and a splash of green in the center of it. It was to the green that he was falling.

He landed squarely on his feet, and then turned to catch Luna as she stumbled. "Portkeys make my stomach ache," Luna said by way of apology for tripping.

The first round of travelers waited for them in a nearby line of shrubs. They appeared to be in a small park surrounded by massive, beautiful trees with benches and a thick carpet of grass. The sun shone clear and warm overhead. If not for the sense of danger around them, it would have been a perfect day.

"Any sign of trouble, Kingsley?"

The large dark-skinned man in animal skin robes and the fez shook his head. "No, but something doesn't feel right."

Ben opened his mind to the Force, and felt several dark presences nearby. Their thoughts lingered on death and pain. "There are five Death Eaters standing behind a line of shrubs at the end of the park," Ben said.

Everyone turned and stared at him. "And what makes you so certain of that, boy?" Moody said.

"I can feel them in the Force," Ben said honestly.

"That's what space wizards call magic," Ron supplied helpfully.

Kingsley and Moody mouthed the words 'space wizards' to each other in confusion. "Well, if he's right," one of the other wizards said, "we can't very well just walk right up to the headquarters building. If they narrow it down even to a block, they might be able to start intercepting us before we even get there!"

"They're not that strong-willed," Ben said. "I could compel them to leave. The compulsion would wear off after an hour or two, but would that be enough time?"

"What's this about compulsions, then?" Moody said. "Are you a legillimens?"

"I'm a Jedi Knight," Ben said with authority beyond his years.

"Whatever that means," Moody grumbled. "Kingsley, go with the boy. See what he's talking about."

Kingsley nodded to Ben. "Let's go." He started to put a hand on Ben's shoulder, but the young Jedi stepped out of it. The older man did not comment and the two of them walked across the park until they came to an entrance on the far side. Up the street, five men in poorly-fitted clothes stood at the corner staring down the street.

"Bullocks," Kingsley muttered. "Death Eaters. The Dark Lord must know where the house is somehow."

Ben ignored them and concentrated on the five men. Three of them straightened and stared around in obvious confusion. However, two of them merely shook their heads and grabbed their companions. "They have some type of mental shielding," Ben said. "Or natural resistance. I couldn't get past those last two."

"May not matter if they know exactly where the safe house is."

"Can they get into the safehouse?"

"No, but they can keep us from getting in."

"Not if we kill them."

Kingsley stared down at the boy. "You speak of killing like it's easy."

Ben returned the stare. "Killing is easy. It's living with it afterward that can be hard. This is your war, I'm just passing through. Do you want me to kill them so the others will be safe, or risk innocent lives?"

Kingsley shook his head. "I'm an auror; you'd better let me handle this. Stay here."

Ben watched as the brave man started down the street toward the five Death Eaters. With a shake of his head, Ben stepped back behind the high wall of shrubs that seemed to line the large square park. He felt Kingsley just on the other side of the shrubbery, and a dozen meters further he felt the Death Eaters.

He felt the first Death Eater become aware of Kinglsey's approach and heard a spoken spell and a flash of purple light. Kingsley responded with his own spells, but both went wide. Ben unclipped his lightsaber. He felt others from their party crossing the park at the sight of the battle, but Kingsley didn't have time. Now that they were aware of him, any element of surprise he could have claimed was long gone.

Ben jumped over the two meter high shrubs. He landed lightly behind the squad of dark wizards and lit his saber. Two of them turned to meet this oncoming threat, but were quickly relieved of their heads. The other three turned and realized their lives were in immediately danger. One screamed when Kingsley finally got in a shot. One died with a quick thrust of Ben's saber through his skull. The third started calling his magic to pop-away.

"No you don't!" Ben said. He reached out a hand and grabbed the man, pulling him out of the Force-nexus he was using to try and disapparate away.

Kingsley finally got up. "Merlin's beard, boy!" he said when he saw the slaughter. Around them, civilians walked along the street seemed completely oblivious to the whole exchange. "What is that thing?"

"This is my lightsaber," Ben said as he clipped the sword back to his belt. "How do you keep these people from escaping?"

Only then did Kingsley realize what Ben was going. "You're holding him in an anti-apparition ward of some kind."

"And I'm getting tired."

Kingsley shrugged and then slammed a large fist into the side of the young Death Eater's head. The man collapsed boneless to the ground. "Unconscious wizards can't disapparate."

Ben surveyed the street. "Why aren't more people responding to this fight?"

"The whole block is lined with notice-me-not charms."

"Shacklebolt!" Moody said as he finally burst around the shrubs. "What's happening here?"

"The boy was right," Kingsley said. "There were five death eaters. Ben killed three and captured a fourth. I took out the other."

Moody saw the heads, then saw the bodies. "The boy did this?"

"I've fought in more than a few battles," Ben said. "I'm young, but I haven't been a boy in years."

Moody's magical eye swiveled around to stare at Ben for the longest time before the old wizard nodded. "Aye, 'can see that now, lad. Dung!"

Another of Moody's wizards, this one less trustworthy in appearance, arrived. "Wotcha, Moody?"

"Dump the bodies," the senior wizard said. "Get 'em far away from here. No need to confirm Voldemort's suspicions if we can avoid it. Kingsley, boy…what's your name again?"

"Ben Skywalker."

"Short for Benjamin?"

"I was named after a general named Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Moody snorted. "Odd name."

"And you work with a man named Dumbledore?"

Kingsey snorted. "Has you there, Mad-Eye."

"Right. Well, Ben, better come with us until we figure things out."

Ben, Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt joined the rest of the wizards waiting on the entrance to another street. "What happened?" Arthur asked.

"Ben was right," Moody said. "He and Kingsley handled it. Now, stay together. We are going to Number 12 Grimmauld Place."

Moody ignored all the people walking on the sidewalks and stepped directly into the center of the street while wheeled vehicles sped by on either side. He stood as if oblivious to his seeming danger and stamped his huge broom three times on the street.

Ben felt a sudden surge of power. "This is crazy," he whispered. The power these people threw around was astounding. The sight before him was no different. From the center of a long line of buildings emerged an entire home literally pushing half the block away. It was beyond anything he could imagine. The sheer mechanics involved were so mind-boggling that he finally stopped trying to analyze what he saw and accepted it as magic.

"Come in, all of you," Moody said.

The house simply defied description. It was grungy and dilapidated and dark. It was one of the more unwelcome places Ben had seen outside of battle. He saw square outlines all over the dirty walls but didn't understand the significance until he saw a square portrait. At first he thought it was a holonet feed since the figure within moved, but as with everything else there was a faint Force signature around it.

"Moody, thank goodness you made it!" Ben turned his attention back to the speaker.

This new man stood a little taller than Moody with a beard that hung down to his navel. He wore a very bright set of robes with moving stars playing across the surface, and a strange pointed hat. What made him stand out, however, was the shriveled, blackened skeleton of a hand that hung down from the right sleeve of his robe.

"Arthur," the strange man said. "Is everyone well?"

"We made it, with help," Arthur said with a nod to Ben. "But we lost Xenophilius."

The old wizard seemed to wilt a little before Ben's eyes. Two dull blue eyes sought out Luna, who once again had taken her place by Ben's side. "My dear," he said to her. "I'm sorry for your loss." He turned his attention to Ben. "And are you the mystery that Arthur flooed me about?"

"Possibly."

This, Ben realized, had to be Dumbledore. "Miss Weasley," the old wizard said, "I don't suppose you and your brothers would be so kind as to take Miss Lovegood to the sitting room?"

"No," Luna said. The whole room paused at the strange authority in Luna's voice. "I want to stay with Ben."

Ben felt a brush against his mind—a very powerful one—and snapped his shields in place. The old wizard's eyes widened, but only for a moment. "Of course," he finally relented. "Please, come into the meeting room for some tea."

Luna drifted closer to Ben. Her grief shone through her eyes, and the young Jedi simply put an arm around her shoulder and walked with the others toward a room stationed at the end of a long, narrow corridor. He understood grief as well as anyone there.

The room proved to be larger than it appeared at first glance. As Ben and the other stepped in, he saw several other people gathered around a large oval table. "This way, please," Dumbledore asked. "Have a seat."

Ben took a seat near the end of the table and Luna sat by his side. The rest of the people gathered along the sides or the other end of the table and stared at him. "Before we get started," Dumbledore said to the whole room, "I would like to honor a lost friend. Xenophilius Lovegood was a strong proponent of the Order, and a good personal friend. I will miss him terribly."

The others in the room nodded in remembrance of Luna's father.

"The other item I must discuss should not leave this room," Dumbledore added. "Last night, Sybil Trelawney slipped into a coma and died in her sleep. As you know, she never recovered from the attack that took her leg earlier this summer. However, before she died, she spoke one last prophecy. I shall read it for you now." He removed a small square of parchment and began to read:

"From the dark comes he to set things aright

That now askew went towards the night.

With powers the Dark Lord does not know;

Another falls soon from high to low.

A champion lost, a champion gained,

To Force the darkness back again."

Dumbledore paused to let his listeners digest the words. "Shortly after she spoke these words, Sybil left us. And ten minutes later, much of both the wizarding world and the muggle world saw a fireball streak through the sky and come down softly in the forests just east of the Lovegood estate."

"I understand your name is Ben Skywalker," Dumbledore said to Ben. "Would you be so kind as to describe where you are from?" Ben felt every eye on the room turn toward him.

Remembering everything he had learned about this strange world, Ben sought for the best way to explain. "Most of my life was spent on a world called Coruscant—the center of the government of the galaxy. Most recently I've lived on a planet called Ossus with my father and the rest of the Jedi Order."

The silence that followed was nearly painful. Only Dumbledore seemed merely to nod. "So you are not of this world?"

"No, sir. I have never heard of any planet called Earth. I have never seen magic the way you use it here."

"He used an anti-apparition ward, though!" Kingsley said.

"And notice-me-not charms," Ginny added.

"I used the Force," Ben said. "Your magic reverberates in the Force. It is the same energy, I think, but I've never seen it manipulated the way you do."

"And yet you can sense and manipulate this energy?" Dumbledore asked. "I sensed you had an Occlumens shield in your mind."

"That Force-probe was you?" Ben asked. "All Jedi receive training to strengthen their minds."

"Well isn't this a pretty thing, then!" one of the other wizards said. He appeared almost gaunt, with a tightly trimmed mustache and goatee, but long unkempt hair. "An alien from another planet. I'm sure that will turn the tide of the war! Let's just start celebrating now!"

"Sirius, please," Dumbledore said softly. "Ben, do you know what is happening here?"

"I understand your world is being threatened by some Sith-like Dark Lord with followers you call Death Eaters."

"Tom Riddle, or Voldemort, as he styles himself," Dumbledore began, "is currently the most powerful wizard alive in magical England."

"I thought your world was called Earth."

"England is one nation among many on the planet Earth," Dumbledore explained.

"I see." It was not unheard of in the Alliance for a world to have more than one sovereign nation, but it was unusual and when it did occur it resulted from separate species not wanting to integrate.

Dumbledore nodded. "There are certain biases within the English wizarding world regarding those individuals born magical from non-magical folk, and those born to wizarding families. The bias has been elevated into a program of racial hatred by Voldemort. He has recruited hundreds of pure-blood wizards to help him terrorize England, and before you sits the only independent group standing against him. Sadly, the Ministry of Magic—our government—has been rendered largely impotent through the political maneuverings of Voldemort's supporters."

"Hundreds?" Ben asked. His mind was whirling around how such a low number could be a threat. Finally, he voiced that. "Why not just overpower his followers with numbers?"

One of the youngest people in the room cleared her throat. She appeared only a year or so older than Ben, with a large mass of hair tied into a severe braid. If not for a scar on her right cheek that ran up over an eye, she would have been quite pretty. "Headmaster, if I could?"

"Please, Ms. Granger."

Ms. Granger nodded to Ben. "The magical community in England is very small compared to the non-magical world. For any one wizard to attract hundreds of followers represents a significant force in the wizarding world—not just here in England, mind you, but in the whole wizarding world. The people in this room are the only ones currently standing against Voldemort."

"And some of them are only seventeen," an older woman in black with a pointy hat said. She spoke with a thick brogue and looked as severe as Ms. Granger.

"I'll be a seventh year," Granger said. "By wizarding law I'm an adult. And my birthday is in two months."

"Young, but also among our most talented and brilliant witches at that," Dumbledore said. "I take it then, Mr. Skywalker, that you are not used to dealing with conflicts like this?"

Ben shuffled uncomfortably. "Not like this, I supposed," he said. "I've been in wars, though."

The severe older witch harrumphed. "You're just a boy."

"I've killed people in war," Ben said. "I've shown you that. I've faced my own Dark Lords. I've lost loved ones and fought in battles with millions of combatants. I've seen things…." He stopped when he felt the eyes studying him intently. "I've seen things you can't understand or imagine. Like I told Moody—I may be young, but I haven't been just a boy in a long time."

"I believe you," Dumbledore said. "In your eyes I see great and terrible experiences. And that is why I believe you are the one we need. You are the one to help us set right what has gone askew. You see, there was another boy with a prophecy. A young boy named Harry Potter, who as an infant almost destroyed Voldemort. I truly believed that this boy was the means by which the Light would triumph. But through my own complacency and incompetence, Harry Potter died." He stopped speaking, and Ben could feel grief, self-recrimination and guilt pour from the old wizard's mind. "We have been fighting as best we can, with only limited successes. We won a political battle in getting a new minister of magic elected, but Voldemort promptly assassinated him. Our next choice is fortunate, but has already survived one attempt on her life. Voldemort's strikes are growing more powerful and confident. We've lost nearly twenty students not to his crimes, but to his cause. It truly feels as if we are losing."

"So what are we to do?" the older witch asked.

It was the younger woman with the scar who answered. "We're going to teach Ben magic, of course."

"What?" the older witch asked.

"She's right, Minerva, as usual," Dumbledore said. For a brief moment, Ben saw a twinkle in the old man's eyes as he looked at Granger. "We're going to enroll Ben here at Hogwarts. We're going to give him special tutoring in magic, so that he can understand both our power in addition to his own. Perhaps he can even help me in the hunt for the horcruxes. There are only two left, after all," Dumbledore said.

"What are those?" Ben asked.

"A vile, terrible black magic," the old witch named Minerva said. "Voldemort, in his quest for immortality, has shattered his own soul and placed portions of it into magical objects."

It sounded vaguely like something a Sith Lord would do. Ben mere nodded. "Okay, I understand that you are in need of help. And as a Jedi I am bound by our code to offer you my assistance. But I also really need to contact my father and get to my ship."

"But if he's on a far away world," Granger said, "how do you plan to do that?"

Ben felt his shoulders slump. "I don't know."


	5. The Girl Who Kicked Ron's Nads

**Author's Note**: I introduce a student/teacher romantic relationship in this story. While it is not integral, it is still a rather important subplot. I provide this notice not as a warning, but simply to let you be aware of this so that hopefully you're reading experience will not be interrupted.

* * *

**Chapter Five: The Girl Who Kicked Ron's Nads**

The next few days proved to be very educational for Ben, in many different and confusing ways.

For instance, Ben discovered that wizards secured the old metallic locks of their doors with wards and spells. Some of these wards and spells were as effective as even the most advanced Tendandro Arms security droid systems.

Ben also learned that Luna Lovegood was somehow able to slip past these wards and spells at will. He discovered this when he woke up the morning of his second day on Earth with a pale arm wrapped around his stomach, and the feel of a woman's body pressed up against his back.

He slowly turned in those arms until he faced her. Her eyes were still closed and her breath came in even waves of warmth. She was still asleep. Even in her sleep, however, he could see that she had been crying. The pillow under her head was moist with her grief.

Somehow sensing his attention, Luna opened her eyes. They seemed watery, like a distant lake shimmering in the late afternoon sun. "Good morning," she said softly.

"I'm fairly certain I was alone when I went to sleep last night."

"I came to fix that as soon as I could," she responded without blinking or even smiling. He could not tell if she were joking or not.

"Luna, don't you think we're a little young to be sharing a bed?"

"You keep the nargles away," she explained. "They give terrible dreams. Dreams of father not moving. Before I came I even saw my Mum. She was staring at me from the floor. I asked her to say something, but she just stared." At last Luna's gaze drifted from Ben's face. "Being with you makes it better," she added weakly.

"I feel like I'm somehow taking advantage of you."

She brightened and a ghost of a smile came to her lips. "You could, if you really wanted to."

"Uh, no thank you." He climbed out of bed and saw with genuine gratitude that he was clad in a pair of spacer shorts. Luna, too, wore a night gown. At least they had a semblance of modesty. "How did you get in here?"

"Through the door, of course."

Ben shrugged. "Okay. So, where's the fresher? I mean, loo?"

"I believe Hermione said it was down the hall on your left."

"Hermione? You mean Granger? What happened to her face?"

"A troll during first year. She was hurt terribly, I'm afraid. She could have the scar removed, but when she started working with Professor McGonagall and the headmaster, she decided to keep it as a reminder to always be vigilant."

"She that good?"

"Not yet, but she will be," Luna said. "She started a dueling club designed to teach people how to defend against Death Eater attacks. Most of the school signed up."

Ben nodded. He came back and sat down on the bed. "Luna, look… Nothing I say came make you feel any better about your father. Or your mother. I know that. I've been through it. My cousin—a guy who taught me the Force and was my best and only friend—murdered my mother a couple of years ago. I lost a dear childhood friend while trying to bring him down. I… I'm just trying to say that I know what you're going through. If you ever want to talk, I'm here."

As the words came out, the silver sheen in Luna's eyes grew more brilliant, until a single tear ran down the side of her nose. "Thank you," she said in a thick voice. "It is terribly difficult. That's why…I don't know why you make me feel better, Ben. But when I'm around you, I don't see their faces. I don't hear their voices. You make things better. Please, just let me stay close."

She wiped her nose. "After all," she added in a suddenly absent voice, "I brought you here. So you should stay with me."

With that, Luna got up, stepped out of the door, and walked down the hall to the left where she entered and then closed the loo that Ben was in particular need of.

Eventually, Luna emerged and Ben had a chance to make use of the strange accommodations. He learned that wizards did indeed have showers capable of producing warm water. After a refreshing shower, Ben climbed into his not-so refreshing flight clothes and left in search of other people.

He followed the sound of voices until he arrived at the heart of the house: the kitchen.

Molly Weasley was there with Ginny and Luna. The scarred girl, Hermione, sat nearby nursing a cup of something that steamed. Across the table from them sat the lean man with the goatee named Sirius.

"Aw, the space wizard awakens," Sirius exclaimed extravagantly. "I trust you've enjoyed the hospitality of my house?"

"Your house?" Ben blinked. "Yes, I suppose. Thank you for allowing me to stay."

Ben got the distinct impression that Sirius had been looking for a fight. Not finding one, he settled back into his seat. "I have allowed the Order to use it as a headquarters building since it is close to the Ministry of Magic. Have a seat."

Ben took the proffered seat. "Are you hungry, dear?" Molly said. "I have a nice bit of porridge ready, and some bacon."

"That sounds delicious, thank you," Ben said. He had no idea what bacon was, but it smelled good.

"So I heard you've killed quite a few death eaters since you've been here," Sirius continued. He seemed to have a hungry gleam in his eye. "Is that the way you do things in space? Kill everyone and let the stars sort them you?"

"I kill only when necessary," Ben said. "But if I must kill someone tainted by darkness to save an innocent, then yes, I will kill."

"I like your style," Sirius said. He spoke with overt animation of his features and movements, as if he had more energy than his lean frame could hold. "I wish we did more killing of Death Eaters in the Order and less trying to outmaneuver them."

"Sirius Black, don't be badmouthing Albus again," Molly said. "Without him you'd still be rotting away in Azkaban, mad as a hatter and howling at the moon."

Sirius laughed without humor. "Ah, wonderful old Azkaban. It drove me nutters. Absolutely mad." He winked at Ginny and Luna. "But I'm feeling much better now, thank you."

"Azkaban is a prison?"

"Aye, a black, despairing place filled with dementors that suck the happiness from you and feed on your soul. On the day I lost my best friend, I was framed and sent to the prison without so much as a trial, while my godson was sent off by our esteemed leader to a home of bloody muggles that…" He stopped and his voice cracked. He jumped to his feet and rushed over to a cupboard, where he rummaged until he found a bottle filled with amber fluid.

"Care for some spicy coffee?" Black offered.

"What is that liquid?"

"Firewhiskey," Granger said coolly from the other side of the room. "It's a bit early, isn't it, Sirius?"

"I'm raising a toast to my godson," the wizard said. He filled a large cup to the rim and raised it in the air. "To Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Got-His-Neck-Snapped-By-The-Bastard-Muggles-Who-Were- Supposed-To-Care-For-Him! Lord Voldemort himself couldn't kill the boy, but a pair of lousy muggles could!"

"Sirius!" Molly said, spinning around in a rage.

Black ignored them all and downed the entire eight ounce glass of whiskey without even pausing for breath.

He slammed the glass on the table with a manic grin. "Now that's a good way to wake up!" He stood again. "Glad to have you on the team, Ben! When you're ready to kill some more Death Eaters, let me know!"

He stalked out of the room with a slightly uneven gait.

"That man!" Molly Weasley said in a huff.

"He'll be okay," Hermione said to the stunned kitchen. "He'll cry for a few hours, sleep it off, and be right as rain by this afternoon."

"Tell me more about Harry Potter," Ben said. "Dumbledore mentioned him last night."

"The Boy-Who-Lived," Ginny said.

"Evidently not, from what Black said," Ben said.

"Ben, sweetie, let's not…."

"He ended the first war against Voldemort," Hermione said with a complete dismissal of the Weasley matriarch. "There was a prophecy that said he would kill the Dark Lord. So Voldemort came and murdered his parents. He then cast a killing curse on a one-year-old Harry Potter. Somehow, the curse rebounded and destroyed Voldemort's body. He lived on a as a phantom for a few years, and just two years ago gained a new body. Harry was placed with non-magical relatives because Professor Dumbledore wanted him out of then spotlight. The Professor miscalculated the people he chose to raise Harry. They were abusive, and when Harry was four, they accidentally killed him."

"Poor boy," Mrs. Weasley whispered. "Poor, poor boy."

"He was supposed to be the savior of Magical England," Ginny chimed in. Her eyes were wide and somber. "I wasn't old enough to understand, but I remember seeing grown-ups crying like babies."

"Albus hasn't been the same since," Molly said. "He never imagined it would turn out like that. He blamed himself for the boy's death, and just hasn't been the same. He used to be so confident and jolly. He was a very powerful wizard, Ben. He defeated the Dark Wizard Grindelwald many years ago. But now, he's just a shell of his former self."

"He does however have a beautiful singing voice," Luna said suddenly. "If Ben is coming to school, won't he need supplies? He doesn't even have a wand."

Molly stared in shock. "Blimey, the child's right. You don't have a wand, do you Ben?"

"My lightsaber has generally been sufficient for my needs," Ben said.

"Can't cast spells with a glowing sword-thingy," Ginny said. "Mum, we should take him to Diagon Alley."

"I'm not sure it's safe," Molly said. "We'll have to ask Albus. He'll be coming back again this evening. In the meantime, we all just stay in the house."

"Actually, is there a quiet place I can meditate?" Ben asked.

"Meditate?" Luna said. "That sounds so peaceful."

"I need to get some things straight," Ben said. "See if the Force can tell me anything about what's going on."

"I'm sure the girls can show you to a room upstairs."

"I'll take you," Ginny volunteered.

* * *

Hermione watched the newcomer go with narrowed eyes. She was seventeen—legally an adult in the wizarding world. She was only a few months shy of turning eighteen. She took her NEWTS earlier over the summer and achieved mastery over more subjects than any student since Minerva McGonagall. Her entire last year was to be spent undergoing special advanced tutoring. She was also Head Girl.

Hermione had a hard life in the Wizarding world, and in many respects that life had forced her to grow calluses on her emotions. For instance, she despised the Weasleys. However, for the sake of the Order she tolerated them. She even admitted that Ginny, Bill and Charlie were not so bad. But the rest were intolerable. Ron especially. After hounding her incessantly and making her life miserable for the first two years of her Hogwarts career, except for the month she spent in the hospital wing after the troll incident, he then had the gall to ask her out on a Hogsmeade weekend in Fourth Year.

"It's how Weasleys show affection," Ron said by way of dismissing the way he savagely ridiculed her for her first two years.

She kicked him squarely in the nads in front of all their fellow Gryffindors. "This is how Grangers show rejection," she explained.

Needless to say, she did not get any more invitations to Hogsmeade weekends that year. She heard there was some talk of trying to revive the TriWizard tournament and have Yule Ball, but the talk faded quickly when eye-witness reports confirmed that Voldemort had returned. The ensuing battle of information between the Order and the Ministry of Magic was what finally convinced Hermione to join the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore was flawed, to be certain, but as the chief warlock of the Wizengamut he forced a vote of no-confidence in Fudge that ended the minister's career.

At least Scrimgouer admitted there was a problem. Then he was promptly assassinated by Voldemort's forces. The latest Minister, Amelia Bones, was nothing less than a warrior. She mobilized the aurors into a military Force and waged open war against any Death Eaters she could find. So far she survived four assassination attempts.

The problem with warring against Death Eaters, of course, was finding them before they found you.

After finishing her coffee, she left Molly in the kitchen and went to check on Sirius.

She found the older wizard in his room on the second floor, curled up on his side, facing away from the door. His back shook with quiet sobs.

Remus Lupin told Hermione upon her first meeting with Sirius Black that the man was a very powerful wizard and an accomplished duelist. At least, before he lost everyone he loved and was shunted to Azkaban without even the benefit of a trial. He escaped the prison after learning of young Harry Potter's death and hunted down the muggles responsible. However, Dumbledore caught him before he could murder the already imprisoned Dursleys.

Supposedly their fight was the stuff of legends and summoned a force of Aurors from all over Britain.

The end result, however, was that Dumbledore forced the Wizengamut to reopen Black's case with a trial, where it was discerned that Black was not the betrayer and murderer he was depicted as. However, the trial itself took three years, while Sirius continued to rot in Azkaban. Those six years changed the man. Even after years of freedom, he was broken somehow.

Hermione knew it was because of Harry Potter. Sirius blamed himself for the boy's death.

She draped a blanket up over the weeping wizard's shoulders and knelt down in front of him. Black's eyes were open and moved to her face. "You need to shave and shower," Hermione said. "You look more like a dog than your animagus form. And you smell worse."

Sirius snorted. "Who cares?"

"I do, of course," Hermione said. She leaned over and kissed his forehead. "Get cleaned up. You're probably going to take Ben to Diagon Alley for school supplies."

"School?" Sirius asked incredulously. "We're at war, and you're worried about school?"

Hermione shrugged. "I'm worried about you. Everything else is irrelevant."

"You're a silly little girl, then," Sirius said, his words slurred. "I'm twice your age."

"You act half my age," Hermione answered. "And I'm a lot smarter."

"True."

He sat up and let the blanket fall from his shoulders. He gave his face a thorough rub. "What day is it?"

"I believe it is Thursday," Hermione said.

"What time?"

"Late morning. Eleven."

"Why do you love me?"

Hermione shrugged. "Even smart witches do stupid things sometimes."

Sirius snorted again, then leaned down and kissed the scarred girl young enough to be his daughter. "And I'm the stupidest thing you could do. Thank Merlin."

He abruptly stood and lumbered off to his loo. Hermione smiled a little, then stood and continued down the hall. She heard voices and walked to the third level of the house where she heard Luna and Ginny talking.

"You slept with him again?" Ginny was saying. "Luna, what are…."

"He keeps the nargles away," Luna explained. "He was afraid of taking advantage of me. Of course, I told him I was afraid he would not take advantage of me. I personally would be disappointed if he did not eventually take advantage of me. I'm not disgusting in appearance, am I?"

"No, you're very pretty," Ginny assured her. "A little bit of a lunatic, but you know that. Still can't believe you slept starkers with him."

Hermione stepped openly from the stairwell and stared at the girls, who were sitting in the hallway floor. "Luna, what have you been doing with Ben?"

"Not enough, sadly," Luna said with a sigh. She did not seem surprised by Hermione's presence. "If he keeps the Nargles away just by being around me, imagine what he could keep away by being IN me?"

Ginny flushed a brilliant shade of red and Hermione cleared her throat. "Luna, you're too young."

"You're only a year older," Luna said. "And you've slept with Sirius Black."

"You did not!" Ginny gushed in shock as she stared at Hermione.

Hermione set her lips. "Sirius and I are different."

"Merlin's Beard, you did!" Ginny gasped.

"He needed you, and you needed to be needed," Luna said. "I need Ben, and he needs to be needed. And at least we're the same age."

"I can't believe you've slept with Sirius Black!" Ginny continued.

"Will you stop that!" Hermione barked at the Weasley girl. "You're one to talk. How many boys did you go through last year?"

Ginny snapped her mouth shut. "I didn't sleep with them, though," she finally said.

Hermione knelt down beside Luna and put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "I've never said how sorry I am for your losses," she said. "When I had to obliviate my own parents and send them to Australia, I felt like I was losing them too. But Luna, you're too young to know what you want or need. You think you need Ben because of the sudden emotional voids in your life. I understand that. But just remember that needing love doesn't mean you have to give into…_that._"

"You regret it, don't you?" Luna asked with an owlish stare. "Not waiting."

Hermione shrugged. "I wasn't ready. You aren't either. Don't rush."

Luna pulled her knees to her chin and hugged her legs. "My magic called him from across the stars," she said. "I wished for him to come, and he did. I won't lose him. I can't."

For a brief window, Hermione heard the utter despair in the girl's voice. It was much like the despair she saw in Sirius during their first meeting. It was a despair that Hermione, with her maternal need to fix things, wanted very much to alleviate. She alleviated Sirius's despair, as much as anyone could, through loving him. With Luna, though, she realized there was little she could do.

She hoped that the image the young girl built of Ben was one that would not end up hurting her even more.

* * *

Ben opened himself to the Force.

Those who did not understand Ben's life would never know what an accomplishment that was in and of itself.

As a child during the Yuuzhan Vong war, Ben was inundated with death. The sensations of so much pain and agony overwhelmed the incredibly Force-sensitive child. He withdrew completely from the Force. In the years that followed the war, Jacen Solo slowly cajoled him back into his training. Only to end up betraying him and taking his mother away.

Ben squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to revisit that terribly memory. The Force swirled around him, disturbed by his pain. He took a deep breath to center himself again and once more reached out. The life energy around him was astounding. The whole planet thrummed with Force power, almost as if he were on a giant Force nexus. There was darkness there, to be sure, but also blinding light. The power was both exhilarating and daunting.

He used that power to cast his thoughts outward, toward the stars. He reached as far as the Force would allow, and called out desperately with all his power: _Father!_

Almost immediately he felt the warm, powerful embrace of his father's mind. _Ben! Thank the Force! Where are you?_

_A planet called Earth_, Ben said with near paralyzing relief. _I didn't recognize any star patterns. The planet is primitive, without any interstellar capabilities._

He felt his father's puzzlement, then anxiety. _Ben, I cannot sense where you are._

_I was en route to Ossus when I hit some type of anomaly. The local authorities took my ship and I have no idea where it is. They have no holonet here. And there's more. Dad, they're wizards and witches. They use the Force like magic. They can do things I've never imagined. And there's a Dark Lord here trying to take over their country. They've asked me to help. What should I do?_

His father's response was so typical, Ben anticipated the words even as they came: _What does the Force tell you_?

_It tells me to try to help them. There's a girl here, she just lost her father, and her mother a few years ago. She's clinging to me._

Luke must have felt his discomfort. _Clinging?_

_I woke up from a healing trance after the crash and found her lying naked with me in her bed._

While Ben knew his father felt his discomfort, he could feel his father's…humor? Was that humor he was sensing? _Was she pretty?_

Ben almost lost the connection, he was so shocked by the question. _Father!_

_Ben,_ Luke Skywalker sent calmly through the Force, _you are the most powerful Jedi of your age. Someday, you will be a master, and possibly even the Grand Master of the Order. I love you, am proud of you, and I trust you not only with my life, but the lives of those who seek your help. You are a Jedi Knight. Let the Force be your guide, and do what you feel is right. I will keep looking for you, and rest assured, I WILL find you._

Ben sighed in relief. _Thank you, Father._ _Oh, and Father…_

_Yes?_

_She was very pretty._

He felt a psychic chuckle resound through the Force, followed by a wave of his father's love. A moment later, the connection ended. Only then did he allow himself a deep sigh of relief. It felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders, knowing that his Father was looking for him.

He looked up, and saw Luna and Ginny sitting on antique chairs across the floor from him. Ginny was asleep with a book on her chest. Luna simply sat watching him. Ben realized he had been meditating for several hours.

"You were speaking to someone," she said. "I could feel it. Was it a heliopath?"

"A what? Er, no. I was able to contact my father."

"Is he coming here?"

"He couldn't sense where 'here' was," Ben said. "But he's the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. If anyone can find me, it'll be him."

She leaned down until her silver eyes were level with his and blinked with the hint of a blush. "So, do you really think I'm pretty?"

Ben felt his throat constrict.


	6. The Boy Who Went Shopping

**Chapter Six: The Boy Who Went Shopping**

"_Mum, please wake up."_

_Mum did not wake. Her eyes stared up at Luna without sight. Her lips were parted and Luna could see her mother's teeth. Pink, bubbly saliva formed a little pool on the floor at the juncture of where her lips met the wood floor of the house._

_Luna knelt down and touched her mother's shoulders. She was nine years old. "Mum?"_

_A nine-year-old mind is sharper than many would appreciate. Luna knew intellectually that she was staring down at the dead body of her mother. It is the heart of a nine-year-old that betrays the intelligence. For though she knew in her mind that her mother—the anchor that kept the Lovegood family whole and happy—was gone, her heart refused to accept it._

_So she sat with tears in her eyes, shaking her mother's shoulder, while asking for her to wake up._

_Xenophilius found them like that. He collapsed to his knees on the other side of his wife's body, and stared down at her without comprehension. "What happened?"_

_Luna looked up. "Mum won't wake up."_

"_Celeste?" Xenophilius whispered. He reached out and touched her cheek, only to pull his hand back. "Her cheek is cold."_

"_We must get blankets then, father, or a warming spell," Luna said._

_Very slowly, Xenophilius folded over his wife's frame. Luna watched as her father began crying. Wailing his grief. Only then, witnessing his pain, did her heart begin to crack before the knowledge her mind bore. "Mum," she whispered. Tears welled and streamed down her cheeks. _

_Xenophilius suddenly stood. All sign of grief was gone. "We've got to get the next issue out! Scrimgour's hat cannot be allowed out in public! It's a menace!"_

"_Father?" Luna asked._

_The roof exploded, and a large beam of wood fell and crushed the elder Lovegood to the floor, so quickly it looked as if his body folded like so much paper._

"_Father!" Luna cried in horror. She stood and ran to him, but a swarm of nargles gathered around the body. Their tiny, black, gleaming bodies clicked together in a hissing cacophony of angry sound that brought the girl to her knees. "Please stop!" she cried._

"_You're next," the nargles howled at her._

Luna sat up in bed and looked around. The nargles hovered around her, just on the edge of her vision. Nearby she heard Ginny snoring softly. She jumped to her feet and ran from the room. The Nargles hovered just behind. She could hear their hardened bodies clicking together; hear their sharp jaws snapping and their claws reaching.

She ran desperately down the hall. The door she needed was locked and warded again. She waived her hands and folded the wards away. She did not think about how she did it—it was just something she was born able to do, just like her father's mother before her.

She ran into the room and climbed under the sheets. Almost immediately, it felt as if she had climbed into a bubble of calm. The nargles backed away, their malice blunted by the power of the calm in the bed. She moved closer to the center of the calm, and felt strong young muscles under a sleeping shirt. She looked and saw a pair of beautiful blue eyes staring back at her.

She realized she was shivering, but not with cold. "The nargles," she explained.

Ben merely nodded and pulled her close. The warmth of his body, and the aura of calm around him, was too much for Luna to bear. She lowered her head into his chest, and wept until at last sleep came.

She woke up facing the opposite direction. She felt an arm around her stomach, and could smell the scent of Ben all around her. She closed her eyes and pulled the smell of him into her nose. She could feel his body contoured to hers, his knees pressed up against the back of her thighs. His warmth surrounded and permeated her.

The Nargles were gone.

The door opened, and Luna watched as Hermione came in. She older girl was already dressed in a pair of muggle jeans and a jumper. Despite her scar, Luna thought she was really quite pretty. She especially loved that bushy hair, and resisted an urge to reach up and touch it.

"What are you doing in here, Luna?" Hermione asked softly. She spoke like a mother to a child.

"The Nargles came last night," Luna explained. "It was really rather bad. Ben made them go away."

"I'll bet he did," Hermione said a little darkly.

Just then, Ben propped himself up on his elbow and looked over Luna's shoulder. "Nothing happened," he said with a flush of red to his cheeks. "I'm a Jedi Knight. We don't take advantage of those in need."

"What if being taken advantage of is what we need?" Luna asked innocently over her shoulder.

Ben blushed further, and Hermione stood. "We're going to do a shopping trip for school supplies," she said. "We'll be leaving in an hour."

"Who's coming?" Luna asked.

"Ginny and Ron. Susan Bones will be joining us with her own Auror escort. Probably Tonks and Kingsley. The minister will only trust those two with family. Sirius and I will be there, and probably Molly."

"That's a lot of people for a shopping trip," Ben noted.

"I'm a high-profile target," Hermione said with a shrug. "A mudblood and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, not to mention Head Girl. And Susan Bones is the niece of the Minister of Magic. It's better to have too many wands than not enough."

Luna sat up, but only reluctantly. Leaving her place by Ben's side felt as if she were leaving a safe cocoon. She turned and kissed the surprised Jedi on the cheek. "Thank you for letting me sleep," she said before she skipped out of the bedroom.

Ben sat all the way up. "That is the strangest girl I've met, and I've been to a LOT of planets."

Hermione stared appraisingly at him. "You hurt her, I may have to kill you."

"I have no intention of hurting her," Ben said quickly. "She's been hurt enough."

"Yes, she has." She thrust out her hand. "Hermione Granger."

Ben took the hand and shook it. "Ben Skywalker."

"A pleasure to meet you, Ben. And it will remain a pleasure, so long as you mind yourself around her. I can see she's throwing herself at you. She would like nothing better for you to shag her brains out right now. But we both know that she's doing that because of the shock and trauma she has suffered. There is a very special place in hell for men who take advantage of grieving girls."

In the Force, Ben could sense her absolute conviction. "I believe you," he said.

"Good. Better get ready, we'll be going soon."

* * *

Luna sipped her tea with a sigh. "You make very good tea, Mrs. Weasley," she said.

"Thank you, dear," Molly said.

"I suppose I should thank you," Luna said. "You realize that you are the only reason father ever ate while I was at school. Or for that matter when I was home. You were always very generous."

Molly Weasley cast an appraising glance at the girl. "It was never a bother," she finally said. "Your Mum was such a good friend of ours."

"Yes, she was very fond of you and Mr. Weasley," Luna said. "We are going shopping today? I should think we will need to stop by Gringotts."

"Oh dear, yes," Molly whispered. "Yes, we will, dear. I'll come with you."

"And Ben, please."

"Luna, dear, Ben isn't family. He doesn't really need to be there."

"He does," Luna said.

"Sweetie…"

"He has to be there," Luna said again. "Not just for me, although it would be nice if it were just for me since I feel much better when he is near. But I believe he must be there for himself as well."

"Why?"

Luna blinked. "Why what?"

"Why does he need to be there for himself as well?"

"Did I say that? I must have had a very good reason for it."

Sirius stepped into the room, shaved with a well-trimmed goatee and mustache. "Well, how is my favorite Weasley matriarch doing?" he said as he wrapped a surprised Molly Weasley into a hug.

"Get off me, you wild fool," Molly said.

Luna noted with a smile that, despite the harsh words, Mrs. Weasley returned the hug gently enough. "Now, Sirius, for whatever reason, my son looks up to you. So please don't lead him astray today, alright?"

"Me, lead a Weasley astray?" Black said. He winked at Luna, and she suddenly giggled. All the darkness from yesterday morning was buried deeply under a fount of sunshine.

"Oh you," Molly said.

"Didn't Ron ask Hermione out once?" Luna asked.

She loved watching people in uncomfortable situations. It was so revealing. In this instance, she saw immediately that Molly Weasley was very well aware of the fact that a man nearly her own age was sleeping with a girl the same age as her son—a girl her son evidently had an infatuation with.

She also saw immediately that Sirius was perfectly aware of the fact that Molly knew of his liaisons with Hermione, and that he was actually a little uncomfortable with it himself. He felt guilty for loving her, while at the same time acknowledging how terribly he needed her.

With only one little question, Luna learned more about these two adults than she could ever have otherwise known.

"Kicked his nads, she did," Sirius said with equal parts embarrassment and pride.

"She wasn't quite right for my boy," Molly added quickly. "I'm sure he'll find himself a nice young witch to settle down with. You're his age, for instance."

"But then I would have to kick his nads too," Luna explained. "It's a tradition. All the girls are doing it now that Hermione established precedent. We all look up to her. She's Head Girl, you know."

Ron Weasley had the misfortune to walk into the kitchen during the conversation. "What's all this?" he demanded. "Who's kicking me in the nads?"

"That's what I would like to know," Molly Weasley said waspishly to her youngest son. "Have you been a right monster to all the girls in the school? How will I ever get grandchildren if all my sons act like buffoons around the girls? I mean, for Merlin's sake, boy!"

Ron's eyes widened. "You're all daft," he declared, before turning and running from the room.

"Poor boy," Luna said. "Imagine the trauma of having your nads kicked so many times." She shook her head. "Can we get ice cream while we're out? I do so love ice cream."

Half an hour later, the whole lot of them was ready to go. Luna hovered by Ben's side as they assembled in the kitchen. "We're going to all floo to the Leaky Cauldron and go from there," Molly announced. "I understand the Bones girl should be waiting for us there with Kingsley and Tonks."

Luna looked up as Ben sighed. She could tell he very much disliked traveling by floo. She took his hand. "It will be okay," she assured him. "We will get ice cream. Ice cream makes everything better. It is the only thing in the world that can kill nargles."

"I'm sure it'll be delicious," Ben said.

The Leaky Tavern, when they arrived, was as dark and gloomy as ever. Smoke from fires and pipes hung close to the low ceilings, and many eyes turned and stared. Sirius took the lead and appeared perfectly comfortable in the grungy atmosphere.

Luna watched how Ben took the whole room in at once, seeming to drink the sights in. But that was nothing compared to watching his reaction to the entrance to Diagon Alley.

His eyes widened and he seemed to stagger despite her hand in his. "By the Force," he whispered.

"It is impressive, isn't it?" Hermione said from behind them. "I was amazed all this existed in the middle of London; a modern city, with this pocket of magical antiquity stuck right in the middle of it."

Ben shook his head. "No, it's the power around this place. The Force here is so thick I can taste it."

"Does it taste like plums?" Luna asked. "Plum ice cream is so very delicious." She turned to Sirius. "Ice cream first, shopping later."

"Ice cream?" a new voice said.

They turned and saw an attractive blonde girl Hermione's age walking toward them from the alley. Kingsley and Tonks walked on her heels.

"Hello, Susan," Hermione called over Sirius's shoulder.

"Er, hiya, Susan," Ron stammered.

"If he makes her cry, I think that means he likes her," Luna whispered conspiratorially. Unfortunately, it was a very loud whisper.

Susan laughed good-naturedly. "But then I'd have to kick him in the nads, wouldn't I?"

Run paled.

"It IS the tradition," Luna agreed.

"Merlin's beard, boy," Sirius said. "What have you been doing in that school?"

Susan laughed, then walked up and gave Ron an innocent peck on the cheek. "Don't worry, Ron, I shan't kick you."

"Thank you."

"Can I?" Luna said.

"Not unless you want to date him," Hermione said.

Luna frowned. "Bullocks! So, ice cream!"

And so they had ice cream. "Do you like it?" Luna asked Ben.

"It's very good," Ben admitted as he sampled a spoonful. He elected to have vanilla, having no other experience.

Susan looked up from her double-scoop of chocolate-plum-raspberry. "You talk like you've never had ice cream."

"He's a space wizard," Ron said sagely.

"No ice cream in space, I suppose," Hermione said.

"How very sad," Luna said. Her lip trembled.

Susan simply stared at them as if they were all daft, and then shrugged. "So, what's it like being a space wizard, then?"

"All right, I suppose," Ben said. "What's it like being an English wizard?"

"I killed a death eater that was going to try and rape me last week," Susan said with a straight face.

Whatever humor might have floated in the air died a quick death. "I'm sorry to hear that," Ben said honestly. "Are you all right?"

"I've been taking calming draughts. They help."

"They do indeed," Sirius said in a boisterous, over-loud voice. "Better living through potions, that's my motto! Alright, what's first?"

"I need to take Luna to Gringotts," Molly said.

"And Ben," Luna added.

"I thought Ben was the reason we came shopping in the first place?" Sirius asked.

"We all needed supplies, Sirius," Hermione reminded him. She turned to Ron. "And you need new robes. Get one at least an inch too long. You're a prefect, you need to dress like one."

"Indeed," Molly said.

"Why don't I take them then?" Sirius said. "Molly, be a mother and take care of your kids."

"Sirius…" Molly began.

"Don't worry, she gave me all my potions this morning," Sirius said with a nod toward Hermione.

"I really did," Hermione added. "I snuck them into his morning firewhiskey."

"Terrible thing, too," Sirius said. "Ruined a perfectly good buzz." He stood abruptly. "Come on, Ms. Lovegood. Mr. Space Wizard. Let's go bug some goblins."

Luna took Ben's hand and walked behind Sirius as they headed toward a large, strangely lop-sided structure that reminded Ben slightly of Muunilist. "Why are we going there?"

Luna paused and looked over at him with wide, glistening eyes. "My father's will," she said.

Ben paused, and then nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"You'll come with me?"

"If you wish."

Luna smiled wanly. Sirius merely watched a moment before leading them into the bank. Luna ignored the mean expressions on the faces of the goblins and instead watched Ben, who seemed fascinated by the creatures. Finally, they arrived at the front desk. The scary creature behind then desk snarled. "What do you want, Black?"

"I'm playing chaperone," Sirius said. He stepped aside and motioned to Luna.

The goblin shrugged. "I can't tell one wizard from another."

"We are here for the Lovegood Estate."

"Blood, please," the goblin said. He held out a pin and a thick fold of parchment. Luna obligingly pricked her finger and let a drop fall on the parchment. The goblin disappeared behind a far door.

"What was that for?" Ben asked.

"They're checking her bloodlines," Sirius explained. "The Lovegoods are one of the First Families."

"What's that mean?"

"We're one of the first recognized wizarding families in the Western magical world," Luna said. "We originated on the continent and came to England in 1066 with the Wizard-king William. Same time the Malfoys came."

"Another of the First Families," Black said. "Not as pleasant as the Lovegoods, though."

"Why thank you," Luna said.

Sirius bowed. "Of course, the Black Family has been around almost as long. We're a tertiary family. Recognized a few hundred years after the First Families."

The Goblin returned shortly, accompanied by another goblin with, if anything, an even fiercer face than the first. "I am Rockfist, the Lovegood Account manager. Please come with me, Miss Lovegood. Do you wish your guests to come as well?"

"Yes, please," Luna said quickly. They followed the goblin into a spacious office off the main walkway of the bank. The door closed and the goblin motioned them all to sit before he took his own seat. "We received notice of your father's death and pulled his will and estate holdings. The will names you as sole heir of all family holdings and names you the Family Head. It appears that your mother was muggle-born, and therefore had no estate under our management. However, as a First Family, the Lovegood estate is very large, with properties here and abroad, and a rough valuation of just over two million galleons."

As the Goblin spoke his clawed hands moved over the Will of Xenophilius Lovegood. Luna felt Ben tense beside her, and turned to see his eyes locked onto something on the Will. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Ben said. "May I…may I see the will?"

"Why do you wish to see it?" the goblin demanded.

"Not the will, just the symbol on it," Ben explained.

"Merlin's beard, just let the boy see it!" Sirius exclaimed.

With obvious reluctance, the goblin handed the document over, and Ben stared at the symbol. Luna leaned over and looked with him. It was an isosceles triangle bisected by a single line, with a circle within it. It matched a necklace her father often wore. "It's a symbol of the Deathly Hollows," Luna said.

"The Deathly Hollows?" Sirius muttered. "A stupid bloody myth."

"So are cumple-horned snorkacks, until we find they are real," Luna snapped back. "You've seen that symbol before, Ben? Do they have the Deathly Hollows in space?"

The goblin blinked.

Ben merely shook his head. "I know this symbol."

"Maybe you saw something like it once," Black said.

"I have an eidetic memory," Ben said with a touch of impatience. "I never forget anything. Even when I want to. And I know this symbol. I just don't understand why it's here."

"What is it, Ben?" Luna asked.

He looked up into her silver eyes, and seemed to be seeing her for the very first time. Then he looked at Sirius, then down at the symbol. "It's a glyph that means 'Danger'."

"That's not what it means," Luna said.

"Maybe not in this language. But in the language of the Fallanassi, this means danger."

"Who are the Fallanassi?" Sirius asked the obvious question.

"Practitioners of the White Current," Ben explained. "It's an expression of Force power different than that practiced by the Jedi. My father and cousin both studied briefly with the Fallanassi. But why would they be here?"

"It does not sound as if this discussion is germane to your visit," the goblin growled. "Pursuant to the terms of the will, since you are now past your fifteenth year and your parents are dead and no magical guardian has been established, you are hereby emancipated as a head of house. The Lovegood seats in the Wizengamot will be filled by proxy until you turn twenty-one, at which point you may assume your place in the body. Do you have any questions?"

"She'll need a vault key," Sirius noted.

"Done." The goblin handed the key over and Luna accepted it.

"I'll need funds for school," Luna said.

"A thousand galleons should easily see her through the year," Sirius added.

"Done," the goblin said. "You may either visit your vault, or I will have the money waiting for you when you leave."

"I don't want to see the vault," Luna said. "It is very dark that far down."

"Yours is Vault number five," the Goblin confirmed briskly. "Among the first. If we have no further business? Then our meeting is concluded. Thank you for your business."

As they walked out, Ben seemed to be looking at everything as if seeing it for the first time.

"So what are the Fallanassi again?" Black asked.

"Ancient space travelers," Ben said. "Humanoid. So near human, in fact, they can still cross-breed with baseline humans. They were hunted almost to extinction by the Empire, and even before then they were hunted for their powers." He paused and looked closely at the strangely dressed people around him. "They were often called witches because of their unique powers. And they were mostly if not all women."

"Well, as interesting as that sounds," Black said, then added "and believe me, a race of Space witches does actually sound pretty interesting, you still need a wand."

"And robes and other things," Luna added. "Ollivander's is just down the alley! Let's go get you a wand!"

As they walked down the street, Ben continued staring around him. "The people are scared," he noted finally.

"Voldemort has struck twice just in the past month at local businesses that openly opposed him," Sirius explained. "They have good reason to fear."

They eventually reached Ollivander's and followed a group of first-years in. The old wand-maker peered a moment into the startled faces of each child, before quickly fetching a wand. In most cases, he got the right wand on the first try, though a few took two or even three attempts.

When the first years were sorted, the old wizard looked up at the older customers and blinked. "Sirius Black and Luna Lovegood. Interesting to see you today. And your friend is…" Ollivander paused, then stared a moment. "I do not know you."

"Does that surprise you?" Ben asked. "I've never met you before."

"It does surprise me," Ollivander said. "On both accounts. What is your name?"

"Ben Skywalker."

"Skywalker? How curious."

"He needs a wand," Luna said.

"Does he now?" Ollivander said. "And dear, I wish to say how saddened I was to hear of my cousin's death. Xenophilius was a dear old friend of mine."

"I know, Cousin Ollie," Luna said.

"Cousins?" Ben asked.

"Everyone of old blood is related to everyone else," Black explained. "She's my cousin too, if you go back far enough."

"Three generations for your line," Ollivander said with certainty. "So, Skywalker. A wand. An interesting challenge, this. We need something that will compliment your magic."

Ben opened his mouth to correct his assumption of magic, but then decided it was not worth the effort.

As the old wizard searched, Ben took Luna's hand. She paused at the contact and looked up at him with a beaming smile. "May I see your wand?" he asked.

"Only if you let me see yours," Luna said quickly.

His cheeks flared, and Sirius suddenly had a coughing fit. "You are in deep trouble, my friend," he muttered.

"I'm serious," Ben said.

"No, he's Sirius," she corrected.

"Even I saw that coming," Sirius added.

"Please."

"Oh, all right."

She handed him her wand, which he then promptly placed into the hand he was still holding. The way he caressed her fingers closed over the handle of her wand made tingles shoot up her spine. "It's not that I don't like you touching me," she said, "but what are you doing?"

Ben's cheeks were already too red from the contact to blush any further. "I want to see how the wand works. I can see the Force current around it, and around you. I see how they're enmeshed together."

"You can see that?" Sirius asked. "You have mage sight?"

"I see the Force," Ben said. "I don't know what you call it."

He let go of Luna's hand and she couldn't help but feel a tad disappointed. Somehow her fingers seemed colder without him holding them. However, he then surprised them all. Ollivander was coming back with a stack of boxes when another one drifted off a shelf in the back and shot across the air to Ben's hand.

Ollivander blinked. "What do you think you are doing?" he said, as if offended.

"I think it'll be this one."

"How did you…" Ollivander dropped his other boxes and looked at the one Ben selected. "Very odd. Sequoia sempervirens, thirteen inches with a wyvern heart string. Very rare. In fact that is the only sequoia wood wand I offer. Very powerful." He looked up into Ben's face. "Perhaps you are right, young man. Give if a whirl."

The moment Ben took the wand a massive display of sparks filled the room.

"Well, there we have it," Ollivander said.

"Are the sparks supposed to be so high?" Sirius said.

"They were for a few of my customers," Ollivander said.

"Like who?"

"Dumbledore. Tom Riddle." Ollivander shrugged. "Which are you, my boy? Dark Lord or Servant of the Light?"

"I am a servant of the light," Ben said with absolute certainty.

"Yes, you are. Well, Ben Skywalker, it was a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to hearing great things about you, yes?"


	7. The Boy Who Went to Hogwarts

**Chapter Seven: The Boy Who Went to Hogwarts**

A veritable army of aurors were at King's Cross station on the morning of September 1st. They watched with narrowed, calculating eyes as strangely-dressed wizards mingled with wide-eyed muggles and their magical children.

"If feels almost like a prison camp," Ben noted.

He, Luna, Hermione, Ginny and Ron had come together with a large escort of Order members. They arrived to a scene of aurors actively escorting young witches and wizards with their parents to Platform 9 ¾ .

Behind them, Sirius shrugged. "Muggle-borns are targeted first," he explained.

"Are you coming on the train, Professor Black?" Hermione asked archly.

"I believe that was the headmaster's request," Sirius said with an equally haughty tone.

"Bit odd for a teacher to sleep with a student, you think?" Ron said.

"She's on full independent study, so she's not now, nor has she ever been a student of mine," Sirius noted with an embarrassed blush. "She's already passed her NEWTS. More, I might add, than any witch or wizard in the past thirty years."

"Plus it's none of your business and you bloody well know it," Hermione snapped.

Ben dragged along a large, ludicrously archaic trunk filled with a strange assortment of equally ludicrous supplies. He watched with interest as the other magical people stepped calmly through what for all instances looked like a brick column in the middle of an old-style mass transit hub they called a train station.

"Are you ready, Ben?" Luna asked.

Ben nodded and followed the blonde girl up to, and then through, the bricks. He emerged in a completely separate space dominated by an ancient-looking train that appeared to be powered by…steam. He was staring at a steam-powered vehicle.

"I've always been fascinated by the Hogwart's Express," Luna said. "Isn't it lovely?"

"If it doesn't explode," Ben said.

"I'm sure it won't," she said. "Come, let's load your trunk and find a cabin."

Other students milled around speaking or hugging. One or two were unabashedly kissing while the adults pretended not to see. He climbed onto the train and wandered through the different cars until Luna found a cabin she thought appropriate.

Minutes later, a pair of students stuck their heads in. Ben recognized one as being Susan Bones. He didn't recognize the other.

"Hello, Neville!" Luna said brightly. "Hello, Susan."

"Mind if we join you?" Susan asked.

"Please do. Ben, this is Neville Longbottom. Neville, this is not Olivarious Dumplesnort."

Neville blinked while Susan shook her head with a smile. "Forgot to take your potions this morning, Luna?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Luna said.

"Ben Skywalker," Ben said. "Pleasure to meet you."

Neville took the proffered hand. "Pleasure. I've never seen you before. Are you a transfer?"

"Yes," Ben said.

"What school?"

"The Praxeum," Ben said.

"Where is that?"

"Currently it's on Ossus," Ben said.

"Aussie's have such strange names," Neville said. "Are you excited?"

"I'm still a little mystified," Ben admitted.

"So you're not a space wizard anymore?" Susan asked.

"Oh, he is," Luna said. "I called him down with my magic."

"Oh," Susan said, and that ended the conversation.

The rest of the ride took hours, something Ben was unaccustomed to for surface travel. However, he said nothing and merely listened to the conversations. He learned that everyone in the cabin had suffered at Voldemort's hands. While Neville's parents lived, they were comatose from torture, while Susan lived with her aunt following the deaths of her parents.

"Does anyone have a family that hasn't lost someone?" Ben finally asked.

Susan stared at him for the longest time, her eyes flashing in grief. "I honestly don't know," she admitted.

At last the train stopped and the students clambered off. "House elves will fetch our luggage," Luna explained. She took his hand and led him through the milling crowds of children. At the end of the station stood what Ben at first took to be a Wookiee. Only, one who spoke in clear Basic, or whatever language they spoke (Luna's language spell still confused the issue for him). "First years t' me!" He giant paused when he saw Luna. His eyes slid past her to the boy she dragged. "Yer Mr. Skywalker?"

Ben paused. "I am."

"Then yer with me too," the giant said. "Rubeus Hagrid, Professor of Care of Magical Creatures. Nice t' meet ye!"

Ben allowed his hand to be swallowed whole by the giant's grip. "Luna, girl, sorry t' hear 'bout your Da. Good man, 'ee was. Go on to the carriages, now. Mr. Skywalker'll be along in a bit, I reckon."

"Thank you, Hagrid," Luna said. She turned to Ben, but said nothing.

"What's wrong?" the young Jedi finally asked.

"I'm memorizing your face," she explained. "For when the nargles come."

Then she turned and walked away.

"Good girl," Hagrid said as she left. "Got a flock 'o bats in the belfry if ye ask me, but gots a good heart. On the boats with you, now. All first years, to me!"

So it was that a sixteen-year-old Ben Skywalker rode in a creaky wooden craft with a group of eleven-year-old children across a dark lake toward an ancient, foreboding castle that shimmered with more Force energy that most planets contained. Not even the Massassi Temples on Yavin projected so much power. And this power was not raw. He saw walls of energy surrounding the castle, its grounds and much of the valley. The walls glimmered with precise lines of power, and he could sense that these were magical shields of some kind.

"You're big for a first year," one of the students in the boat said. It was a little girl with thick glasses and large green eyes. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun at the back of her head.

"I'm a transfer," Ben said.

"Oh, okay," she said. "My name is Tina Malloy. My parents aren't magical. They didn't believe it when I got my letter, but Professor Flitwick came and talked to them. I hope I'm in Ravenclaw. I like Professor Flitwick. Do you think you'll be in Ravenclaw? It's a great house, I read. That's where all the smart people go."

"I'm not sure where I will go," Ben said. This was the first he'd heard of Ravenclaw.

The boats finally docked and Hagrid herded the children, and Ben, toward the main entrance of the castle. Unconsciously Ben brushed his hand against the lightsaber hanging from his belt underneath the odd school robes they all wore.

At the top of the steps stood Minerva McGonagall. "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In a moment, you are going to be sorted into your houses. There are four houses…." Ben listened and wondered why they would purposely segregate their students like that. Healthy competition was one thing, but to segregate students permanently fostered ill will.

Still, he was here to try and help these people, not to judge them.

He followed the professor and the younger children into a large hall. He stared a moment at the enchantments in the ceiling, but just as quickly brought his eyes down to survey the four tables arrayed across the center of the room. He felt eyes on him staring curiously, but did his best to ignore them as he walked with the others.

It seemed even stranger to parade first-year students before the entire school, as if to ensure they were properly embarrassed. One by one, McGonagall called the names of students, and they came forward, sat on a stool before the whole school, and had a strange hat placed on their heads. He noted that Tina Malloy did indeed go to Ravenclaw.

Perhaps, he thought, it served as a simple coming-of-age ceremony. It was certainly better than self mutilation or death-defying treks that some of the more primitive civilizations he had encountered did.

What was even stranger was that, not only did the hat speak and sort the children into their respective houses, but it appeared to have a reasonable singing voice as well.

Finally, Ben realized he was the last person left standing. "Ben Skywalker!" McGonagall called.

Amid whispers, Ben stepped forward and sat down. As soon as he felt the hat on his head, he knew he was not alone. A completely alien intelligence entered his mind so smoothly, it was as if his mental shields were non-existent.

"No worries, lad," the intelligence said. "I was charmed to slip by the best shields. Your thoughts are your own, not mine to share. And what interesting thoughts you have." The hat paused. "You've suffered as much as any in these halls. More, in your own way. Pain, strength. A need to prove yourself. A need to test yourself against the darkness. You've tasted more darkness than most. Felt it's pull, and it tasted you as well. You don't want to destroy it; you want to rise above it. You need to know you are not like your cousin."

Ben centered himself in the Force in a terrible struggle not to rip the hat from his head.

"You could be in any of the houses," the hat continued. "But there is one house that needs leadership more than any other. It needs an example to rise out of the darkness. You are going to be their example, young Mr. Skywalker. You are as cunning as any student I've sorted, and that mind of yours may end up saving us all. Therefore, you will be _Slytherin__!_"

Ben's eyes automatically searched the hall of familiar faces. Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Ron all appeared stunned. Luna, however, simply smiled at him and waved like a little girl.

The Slytherin table was utterly quiet as Ben walked toward it. As he sat, he caught the Headmaster staring at him with a curious expression.

The feast that followed was remarkable mainly for its quantity. The sheer amount of food, however unfamiliar and alien, was astounding. He watched as the children around him ate an equally astounding amount of it. They did not speak to him, and he did not attempt to start a conversation. He could feel the hostility pouring out of many of those toward him, as if they could sense that he was of the light.

An example, the hat had said.

After the feast a lanky boy with white-blonde hair and a leering smile stood up. Next to him was a hard-faced girl. Both wore badges. Prefects, if he remembered what Hermione had told him. "Slytherins with us."

Ben noticed the other houses were breaking up as well and heading back to their dorms. He followed the rest of the Sytherins through the confusing maze of hallways down into what looked very much like a dungeon.

They came to a lurid painting of a man holding a sword over a mostly nude woman clutching a babe. The man's face was warped in rage, while the woman looked terrified. "Power," the blond boy said.

The painting opened to reveal a room dimly lit by green-shaded lamps, lined in what looked almost like human skulls. The walls were hung with green and silver tapestries decorated with snakes.

All the students gathered in the room before the blond turned around. "Now," he said simply.

Instantly two sets of strong arms gripped Ben's shoulders and pulled his hands around his back. The blond stepped up to him with a smirk. "You were seen in Diagon Alley with members of the Order of the Flaming Turkey."

Beside him, the hard-faced girl laughed cruelly.

"We don't abide spies in the House of Slytherin," the boy continued.

This close, Ben could feel the darkness radiating off both he and the girl. Opened now to it, he saw it among many of the older students as well. The younger students had bunched away, wide-eyed in terror.

"So, do you want to tell us what the old fool thought he was doing sending you here, or do you want to die more slowly?"

Ben centered himself and spoke with the voice of a Jedi who has faced his own dark lords. "Are you threatening me?" He did not sound incredulous; rather he posed it as an actual question in search of a straight answer.

Around him, the older students laughed. The boy merely stared. "Are you daft?" he finally said. "You're a spy for the Dark Lord's enemies! We're not just going to kill you, you stupid dolt, we're going to make you pray for death! And when we're done we're going to give you to the Dark Lord to finish off."

Ben searched the boy's mind, but ran against mental shields nearly as strong as his own.

"He's a legillimens!" the prefect hissed as he backed away and pulled his wand. "You dare try to touch my mind! I will make you pay!"

Ben gathered the Force around him, relishing for a brief moment the sheer abundance and power of it. Then, he _pushed._

The prefect flew across the common room and slammed into the wall. He did not lose consciousness, but he was too stunned and breathless to immediately regain his feet.

Still in a rush of power, Ben threw the two large boys holding his arms off to either side. He reached out a hand and levitated one across the room and slammed him into the other. Some of the older students were reaching for their wands. Ben sprang into action, pulling his punches enough to hurt but not kill any of the children.

In seconds, he stood alone, while ten fellow Slytherins writhed in pain on the floor. The younger students, and those older ones not directly involved in the attack, stared in shock.

Ben reached out a hand and summoned the blond boy's wand to him. He had yet to see anyone use their magic without their wand. Thus disarmed, the boy could only stare as Ben approached. He grabbed the robes of his attacker, and with Force-enhanced strength lifted him into the air.

"What is your name?" Ben asked.

"Draco Malfoy," the blond boy snarled.

Ben nodded, and then tossed Draco into the ring of other students. He reached out, and all the wands of his attackers flew into his hands. "I am not a spy for Dumbledore," Ben said calmly. "I've been in this world for only a matter of days. But I am of the light. The hat said I was to be an example for Slytherin. I am here to right what is wrong. And so this is my first act. Dumbledore will either expel the lot of you, or I will kill you. But either way, you will not stay in this school another day."

"What is going on here?"

Ben turned and saw a short, rotund man with a puckered face staring at him and the students on the ground with a shocked expression. His hand seemed to be reaching for a wand in his robes.

"Please don't make me kill you," Ben said with such sincerity the man froze, and the other students sucked in their breath. "Who are you?"

"I'm Professor Slughorn. The real question is who you are, and why you think I would allow you to assault my students?"

"He's mad, professor!" Draco said. "He said he was going to kill us all!"

"Is that true?" Slughorn said.

"More or less," Ben admitted. "They attacked me, claimed that I was a spy for Dumbledore, and that they would first torture me and then give me to Voldemort. Since I am here to learn sufficient magic to deal with this little dark lord of yours, I believe their actions sufficient to warrant their expulsion. Short of that, I will kill them."

Slughorn looked like he was going to faint. One of the first years started crying, while the older students merely stared. Finally, the professor said, "Punishment is handled by the head of house. That's me."

"You can kill them if you wish," Ben. "But they WILL NOT remain in this school."

Just then the door into the commons opened, and Albus Dumbledore stepped in. With the swirl of tension and energies in the room, Ben's attention was once again drawn to the darkened, shriveled hand of the old wizard. The darkness remained there, and seemed to be seeping slowly up the man's arms.

"What's this, then?" Dumbledore asked.

"Death Eaters," Ben said.

"How dare you…" Slughorn started, but paused when Dumbledore raised his hand.

"I'm not sure how, but Mr. Skywalker has sent his memories of the incident to me," he said. "He is speaking the truth." The old wizard walked across the students still on the floor, until he stood directly before Malfoy. He knelt down and stared into the boy's eyes before he pulled up the boy's right sleeve to expose a vicious-looking tattoo. "Draco," he said with such a profound voice of sorrow, "have we truly lost you?"

Ben watched a brief flicker of something cross Draco's face, but it was short-lived as he made the only decision he thought open. "My master is going to kill you," he hissed. "He's going to grind your bones to dust." He looked over Dumbledore's shoulders. "And don't think you've won. We will remember this. You will die!" With the last exclamation, flecks of spittle flew from Draco's mouth.

Dumbledore stood and shook his head. "Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Paul Harper, Anthony Bourdin, Thomas Dains and Malcolm Braddock, it is with deep regret that I must inform you that you are expelled from Hogwarts. Having viewed the memory of the event, it is clear that you either attempted to harm Mr. Skywalker with intent to kill, or assisted those with that intent. Mr. Skywalker, their wands, please."

The six seventh-years and four younger students watched wide-eyed as Dumbledore broke their wands. "I have tried these past years to save you all," he said. His shoulders slumped and he exuded not just exhaustion, but a terrible grief. "I have failed to save you from the darkness that gathers beyond these halls. For that, I am sorry. Professor Slughorn, please escort these people from school grounds."

Slughorn moved sluggishly, blinking repeatedly as he stepped over and helped up the former-students. "Come on," he said as he guided them from the common room.

Dumbledore turned to Skywalker, then to the few remaining older students. "I find we are in need of prefects."

"I don't know enough about this school or its traditions to serve," Skywalker said quickly.

"Yes, you're right," Dumbledore said. "Mr. Zabini, Ms. Greengrass, you are now the Slytherin prefects. The hard task of choosing wisely now falls squarely on your shoulder. Mr. Skywalker, after you have settled in, please come see me."

Ben nodded and watched as the old wizard walked out.

The attractive brunette named Greengrass took a long, shaky breath. Finally, she said, "What in the bloody hell are you, Skywalker? Do you realize what you just did?"

Ben took a deep breath himself and tried to still the shaking in his hands as the adrenaline faded. He let the pent up power fade back into the background. "I am new here," he admitted. "But I've fought Dark Lords before."

Zabini, an older boy with flawless black skin, snorted. "Fought dark lords? You're only a sixth year."

"I've had an interesting life," Ben said with complete honesty. He sensed hostility from them, but nothing overt or even malicious. He scared them, and they did not like that fear. He looked at the younger kids and felt the same from them. Mostly fear, but also a few touches of admiration and even hope.

"I'm not a miracle worker," Ben said to them all. "But something brought me here. And so I'm going to do my best to make things better. The sorting hat seemed to think the place to start was here. If I see evil, I will stop it. Whether it's performed by you, or against you, I will stop it. And if any of you are threatened, I will defend you with my life."

"Better not let the other houses hear that," a fourth-year girl with hair the same shade as Greengrass said. "All the other houses hate us!"

"You had death eaters leading you," Ben said. "They're gone now. It's time for the hate to end."

He smiled at them. "Now, being brand new myself, I have no idea where the rooms are. So if the prefects could show us our sleeping arrangements, I would be most grateful."

By the time Ben reached the Headmaster's office later that evening, with the help of a friendly ghost named Nick, he discovered several professors in wait. And Hermione Granger, who stood with such poise that she appeared almost to be a professor herself. Naturally, she leaned against a cabinet next to Sirius Black.

"One hour in, and he's already cleaned every junior death eater from Slytherin," Sirius said with an admiring shake of his head as soon as Ben entered. "Albus, where has this boy been?"

"Fighting an intergalactic civil war against my best friend and cousin," Ben answered without humor. He turned to Dumbledore. "You could sense the darkness around them. Why were they here?"

"Hope," Dumbledore said. "I hoped so very much that I could save them."

It sounded so much like something Ben's father would say that he found himself speechless.

"Well, to business," Dumbledore said. "With the exception of Professor Slughorn, who as you can see is not here, every professor at Hogwarts is either a member, or a supporter, of the Order of the Phoenix. I have told them the prophecy concerning your arrival, and also a little of your unique background. They understand that you have never practiced wand-based magic, but that you are a master of certain wandless magics and a fairly powerful legillimens and occlumens. We are here to discuss your training in wand-based magic."

"He defeated Malfoy's entire gang without a wand?" a tiny professor said. With the Ravenclaw patch on his robes, Ben guessed this was Flitwick. "Perhaps Ms. Lovegood was not completely exaggerating."

"Luna has grown quite attached to Mr. Skywalker," Dumbledore said. For a moment, Ben thought he saw a short-lived twinkle in the old wizard's eye. "In light of her recent tragedies, I've not said anything to prevent it. So long as Mr. Skywalker acts appropriately, of course."

"I will," Ben said.

"Obviously, regular first-year classes will be of limited use," Dumbledore said. "Mr. Skywalker is here for a reason, and I believe he would be best served by concentrating on those areas of magic best suited to that purpose. And so I propose a concentration in Charms, Transfigurations and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ms. Granger has graciously agreed to tutor him in all three areas. We professors will step in once he is ready for more advanced training. It will be an excellent opportunity for Ms. Granger to practice teaching, as she will undoubtedly be running this school someday-" everyone there laughed, but none without belief in the possibility "-and it will give Ben a unique perspective on both the Muggle world in which Hermione was raised, and the magical world she has become an integral part of."

Hermione ducked her head, but Sirius patted her shoulder proudly. "That's my girl."

"To this end, Mr. Skywalker, I have lifted curfew restrictions from you. I will inform all prefects to this effect. You have free run of the castle, so long as our trust in you is not abused. You may pursue any line of reasoning or study you so wish. You'll find no better guide in magic than Ms. Granger."

"Thank you," Ben said. "And regarding Voldemort and his Death Eaters? I am assuming you are still engaging his forces?"

"We will definitely be calling on your unique skills in the near future," Dumbledore said. "Rest assured."

When Ben got back to the Slytherin common room an hour later, he found someone sitting alone before a blazing fire in the otherwise unlit room. He recognized the Force signature of Daphne Greengrass.

"There you are," she said as he stepped in.

Ben blinked, and then walked through the various couches, chairs and tables until he sat down in the seat opposite her. A table rested between them. "Here I am."

"Where were you?"

"Dumbledore's office."

"Why?"

"Discussing my curriculum," Ben said. "My old curriculum was very different."

She looked into the fire for a very long moment. She was an attractive girl, with a pensive line to her lips and large, dark eyes accentuated by her equally dark hair. She looked, minus the outlandish make-up and costumes, much like a beautiful, dangerous Dathomiri witch without the body paint. However, grief and sadness poured off her in waves.

"Draco's father is a Death Eater," she said. "That's how it is for most of them. Their parents are Death Eaters."

"They made their choice," Ben said.

"You're assuming they had one," Daphne said. "If you refuse to serve the Dark Lord, then you and your whole family are killed."

"That's a choice," Ben said softly. "A terrible one, but a choice none-the-less."

"Would you choose it?"

"I hope I would, but I don't know," he admitted. "Are you the child of a Death Eater as well?"

"The Greengrasses stayed neutral during the last war," she said. "If the Dark Lord came and demanded I join him or else, I would do so without hesitation."

He saw the fear in her eyes, though only for a moment before she closed the window and schooled her face.

"I understand," Ben said. "Where I come from, I am part of an order charged with protecting the innocent. If the Dark Lord should come, I will protect you and the kids in this house as thoroughly as I would myself."

"He's the most powerful wizard of his age," she said. "No wizard alive today has stood up to him and lived except Dumbledore. Since he regained his body, he's become unstoppable. He's survived Death itself."

Ben thought back to stories his father told, of the Emperor and his many clones. "Even the most powerful can fall," he said.

"So can those who set themselves up against the powerful."

Ben could not deny the truth of her words. He thought of how close he came; of how powerful Jacen's allure was. "I cannot allow evil to abide," he said. "I would rather die fighting it than give into it.

"Remember that when the time comes," she said. Finally, she stood. "It's late. We should sleep."

"Yes," he agreed. "Good night, Daphne."

She paused and stared at him. "It's Ms. Greengrass."

"Tomorrow, maybe," Ben said. "For tonight, it's Daphne. Good night."

Without waiting for her reply, Ben trudged up the stairs to his room. He did not know what it was like in the other houses, but the Slytherin dorms consisted of small, individual rooms in groups of four around a common lounge and bathroom. The appointments in each room were luxurious. The four-poster bed was draped in heavy green curtains.

Ben scanned the area as best he could and found he had the entire level to himself. Still, he locked his door, and paused only long enough to slip out of his robes before collapsing into bed.

* * *

**Author's Note: Deathly Hallows Symbol and the Fallinassi**

I wanted to address early on the connection between the Fallinassi glyph for danger also being the symbol for the Deathly Hallows. Pure coincidence. The Fallinassi script has been mostly lost to time and was only legible to certain people within the wizarding community, and of those only people with certain bloodlines. The creators of the Deathly Hallows found the symbol and thought it looked appropriate for their artifacts, without any understanding of its original meaning. There is historical precedence for this. So, just so people don't chase red-herrings, the Deathly Hallows will have no bearing in this story. My champions don't need special wands to fight Voldemort (Thanks, Mr. Emperor).

Thanks.


	8. The Mothers Who Died

**Chapter Eight: The Mothers Who Died**

"Luna?" Ben asked.

"Hmmm?"

"How did you get into my room in the Slytherin dorm?"

"Nargles," Luna said. Her voice was muffled by the fact that her mouth was pressed up against the skin between Ben's shoulder blades. The movement of her lips on his skin caused ripples of gooseflesh to pass over his whole body. One of her arms was draped over his ribs, and he felt her knees against the back of his thighs.

"Not why, Luna. How. How did you get in here?"

He scooted out far enough to turn and face her. She was awake now, her silver-grey eyes staring up at him intently. She was dressed in a large, almost painfully bright pink sleeping shirt. He couldn't help notice how the fabric pressed against her body.

"Do you like my shirt, Ben?" she asked. "Its hibiscus colored. Which is odd because I always thought hibiscus was a plant. But evidently it is a color. Quite confusing."

"Luna, you really can't keep doing this." Ben said.

She sat up further and stared at him intently. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You're not supposed to be here. It's not appropriate for a pretty young girl to sleep half-naked with a young boy."

"You think I'm pretty?" Luna gushed. She sat up and started pulling off her shirt. She made an unnerving amount of progress before Ben caught the hem and pulled it back down.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, if it is inappropriate for me to be half-naked, then obviously I was doing whatever was needed to make my being here appropriate. Silly question."

Ben sighed tiredly. The problem was that she really was quite attractive and sitting there wearing little more than a shirt was testing the young Jedi's resolve in ways he never experienced. Her blonde hair was tousled and required physical will on his part to keep from smoothing down. What was most disarming, however, was the way her silvery-gray eyes stared at him with overwhelming, implicit trust. It was as if she trusted him not just to not take advantage of her, but somehow to make her happy if he did take advantage of her.

"Luna," he said at last, "you're just not supposed to be here."

She reached up a slender hand and caressed his cheek. He felt a certain embarrassment at the thrill of her touch. "Of course I am," she said calmly. "I'm supposed to be where you are. You are going to sweep me away into space, and I'll be the Space Witch to your Space Wizard. We'll be married and have one son named Nataniel Kol, and two grandsons named Nat and Kol. We'll insist on those names for the grandkids because of our son's name. It will be wonderful. I'll make you very happy for a very long time, and when we're old and tired we'll come back here and retire and become famous wizards. Doesn't that sound lovely?"

Ben sputtered. "We're sixteen years old."

"Best to start practicing then," Luna said. She leaned over until he caught the smell of plums on her breath. Her shirt hung loosely from her body and he fought to keep his eyes on her face. "I've been told it takes a lot of work to conceive a baby. Often times couples have to work for years."

Ben felt every surface of his face burning. "Luna, please go back to your rooms."

She sighed sadly. "All right," she finally said. She climbed out of his bed into the otherwise empty room and left him in a profound silence.

"Oh Dad, what am I going to do with her?"

Neither his Father, nor the Force, gave him an answer.

"_Wingardium leviosa_!"

Ben watched bemused as the feather floated from the desk and hovered before him.

"Amazing, on your first try, no less."

Hermione sat nearby studying him intently. The older girl looked completely serious and reminded Ben a little of Tionne in the set of her face. "I could accomplish the same thing with the Force."

"But then you wouldn't be learning magic," Hermione said. She placed a large, dusty tome on the desk before him. The sound echoed through the empty classroom the two of them chose for their first lesson.

Ben opened the huge book up and saw it was filled with pages of diagrammed wand movements and spells similar to the one he just performed. "There are two major branches of wand magic," Hermione explained in a patient instructor's voice. He understood now why Dumbledore said she would someday be running the school. "Transfiguration is the art of changing the form and appearance of an object and the vanishing of objects. Charms is the art of acting upon an object, either to imbue it with magical properties or to make it take an action it otherwise would not do. For instance, flying brooms have layers of charms on them. However, a broom has not been transfigured."

She turned and with a flick of her wrist turned a nearby desk into a dog. The dog barked at Ben and wagged its tail before Hermione just as easily turned it back to a desk. "That, however, was changed from an inanimate object to a living thing."

"That's amazing," Ben said. "I could destroy the desk from here, lift it, fly it across the room. But nothing in the Force would allow me to change it to a living object."

"That's why you're here, then," Hermione said. "I've never faced Voldemort directly, but I ran into one of his Inner Circle with Sirius two months ago. I barely held my own, but Sirius was brilliant. He was transfiguring rocks into lions and bears to attack the Carrows while he kept tossing curses and hexes. It was just amazing."

Listening and watching her speak of her lover Ben saw genuine respect in her eyes. It wasn't the blind adoration Luna showed him; rather it was the allegiance and feeling given through conscious choice. "You really love him, don't' you?"

She blinked. "We shouldn't get off track," she said abruptly.

"Why not?" Ben asked. "Luna came to my bed again last night. Any idea how?"

Hermione blinked. "She made it into the Slytherin dorms?"

Ben nodded. "And she got out without anyone noticing."

Hermione shook her head. "She was always the oddest girl. I can't say we're best friends, not like she and Ginny. But Ben, you should understand that in some ways the wizarding world does lag behind the mundane one. Mental health is one of those. Luna was badly traumatized as a child. She was never treated for her depression, and it got gradually worse, until it became a condition. With her father's death, she is in desperate need for help. She's chosen to seek that help from you. She doesn't know exactly what it is she needs, so she's expressing her need in the only way she knows how. But you giving in to her advances is not the help she needs."

"I know. I'm just not sure what to do about it."

She smiled. "It probably doesn't help you at all that she is pretty, huh?"

"It's definitely putting a twist on the issue," Ben admitted.

"Well, we'll deal with that when we must. For now, let's get on with our lesson, shall we?"

After two hours, Ben amazed Hermione with his eidetic memory. He learned spells on the first try, and in just one hundred and twenty minutes learned forty spells.

"Two years of charms lessons in two hours," Hermione said. "Amazing. We'll do transfiguration this afternoon. For now, it's lunch time." She stood and gathered her books. "Er, Ben, I've been meaning to ask. Do you know why the hat put you in Slytherin?"

"It said that house needed an example to follow."

She thought about this for a moment, and then nodded. "The hat was right. They do. Let me know if you need anything."

When Ben went to lunch, he quickly realized what she meant.

The Slytherin table sat in absolute silence while the three other tables buzzed with conversations. The new prefects sat as quiet as the rest while they ate. Hefting the two large books Hermione had given him, Ben sat at the table across from the prefects. "What's wrong?"

"News of the expulsions has spread," Greengrass said.

"Dumbledore's new right arm is what they're calling you," Zabini said.

Ben couldn't help but look to the head table and the withered, cursed right arm of the wizard. Before they could go any further, a pair of Gryffindors walked across the hall. Ben did not recognize them. "Hey, Skywalker, why'd you stop cleaning?" the taller one said. "If you were going to clean out the trash, you should have taken it all!"

The nearby Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables laughed uproariously. The Slytherins around Ben seemed to wilt.

He made his decision in the same instant he stood and walked up to the laughing boys. They slowly stopped laughing when they saw his face. They were both older and taller than he was, but he projected his Force presence out strongly enough to be felt. "What are your names?" he asked quietly.

"Dean Thomas," the shorter one said. "Seamus Finnigan," the taller one said.

The tables around them went quiet went absolutely silent when they heard the boys give their names. Ben was aware that McGonagall and Slughorn both were approaching them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ben said politely. "Before you label anyone as trash, it is best to know them. So I think you should join us for lunch."

"What?" Seamus exclaimed.

"What?" Greengrass said.

"Join us," Ben said. "People who form opinions without any facts are fools. Are you fools, Mr. Finnigan, Mr. Thomas, or are you willing to gather some facts?"

McGonagall caught the end of Ben's statement as she arrived and stared, a little nonplussed, at her two red-faced students.

"What is going on here?" she asked, moments before Slughorn also arrived.

"These two gentlemen had the opinion that my house was filled with trash," Ben said. He emphasized the word "my" so the other Slytherins could hear. "So I invited them to join us so they could learn for themselves."

McGonagall opened her mouth, made a strange squeak, and then closed it again. She looked at Slughorn, who shrugged, then over her shoulder at the distant Dumbledore, who merely nodded. Ben ignored her and kept the two Gryffindors locked in his gaze.

"Mr. Skywalker, I have to admit that is actually a splendid idea." From her voice she did not sound pleased with the realization. "Mr. Finnigan and Thomas, you are to have lunch and dinner at the Slytherin table for the remainder of the week. Twenty…."

"Professor," Ben said softly. "Perhaps further punishment could be held in abeyance pending their behavior over the week. I sense both are good students. I hope my fellow Slytherins can learn as much from them as they might learn from us."

McGonagall nodded. "Very well, Mr. Skywalker. Carry on."

The two boys looked furious. "What are you playing at, Skywalker?" Finnigan hissed. "I lost my brother to those gits just three weeks ago!"

Ben looked over to Daphne Greengrass, who glared at them all. "I lost my sister in that same attack, you bloody bastard!" she hissed.

Finnigan blinked in obvious surprise. "Your sister?"

"Yes, Astoria, my fifteen-year-old sister. The one who used to sit by me for the past four years." She glanced down at the empty place by her side. "The one who never cast a dark spell in her life and had a stupid, bloody crush on Mills Trawny in Hufflepuff, of all people. The fifteen-year-old girl who used to sleep with a stuffed unicorn named Madame Pointy and who liked to open her Christmas presents the day before and reseal them and act surprised Christmas morn. The same girl who got her head blown off by a blasting curse from a Death Eater while trying to eat ice cream with me. I was holding her hand!"

The whole room went absolutely quiet. No one, not even the professors, were moving. With a growl of rage and anguish, Greengrass slammed both hands down on the surface of the table and ran from the room. Ben looked at Zabini, who nodded and went after her.

Ben followed the second Slytherin out of the great hall with his eyes and remembered what Daphne had told him the night before. "I'm new to all this, but even I can see that everyone here blames a few people from Slytherin for all their losses and tragedies. What you and the others don't realize is that the Slytherin students are just as much victims as any of you. More so, and in ways you can't understand. What's worse, Seamus? Having the Dark Lord come and slaughter your family, or making you slaughter another family to keep yours from dying? I hope you never have to face that choice. Now, please have a seat and join us."

After a very terse lunch, Ben made his way back to the classroom and found Hermione waiting for him. She did not look very pleased. "That was a mean thing you did to Daphne," she said.

"I wasn't aware she was your friend."

"She wasn't. Can't stand the girl. But that was a mean thing."

Ben nodded and slumped down into a chair. "I need the Slytherins to know that I'll help them, but I also didn't want to hurt your housemates. Having them join us seemed like the best idea. But I didn't know Seamus had lost a brother."

"His older brother. He was a member of the Order. He was actually fighting the Death Eaters in Diagon Alley when Daphne's sister was killed." She sighed. "I guess you couldn't have known about the sister either."

"I suspected," Ben admitted. "She carried a lot of grief inside. It was beginning to hurt her, I think. It's what Susan Bones told me on the train. Almost everyone in your society has lost a loved one in this war."

Hermione nodded. "Well, enough talk. Let's get to transfiguration."

Only, there was no transfiguration. Ben followed the wand movements perfectly. He copied Hermione's pronunciation of the spells with the precision of a recorder. Nothing mattered. He could not make the match stick turn into a sewing needle. Not even after two hours of trying.

Finally, Hermione blew and impatient sigh up and caused a tuft of her wildly bushy hair to flap. "Well, you obviously have a block," she finally said.

"What?"

"A block. A mental block. You said this morning that you could duplicate many of the charms you learned with your Force. You then said you couldn't do anything like transfiguration. Belief is a part of the magic, Ben. That's why first years start small, to build their belief in their own magic. You don't believe you can do it, and so you can't."

It sounded so very much like one of Ben's father's lessons that he felt his throat go dry. "I need to meditate," he finally said.

Hermione shrugged. "Okay, meditate away. Just don't take too long. He's out there, and Hogwarts is going to be one of the first places he attacks."

"Any ideas of a nice, out-of-the way spot?"

"Try the Divination tower. Since Professor Trelawney died, no one uses it anymore."

Ben nodded, and after a brief search and the interrogation of three paintings, he found a rickety ladder leading up to a squat tower on the edge of the castle. The ladder was blocked by a simple wooden door that he lifted up. As he did so, he heard a familiar voice.

"Wake up, Mum."

It was spoken in the voice of a child, high and shrill. He looked further, and saw Luna Lovegood kneeling down at the floor, staring at a body.

As Ben emerged further, he realized the body had a misty quality. Only then did he understand that he was looking at either a ghost, or some terrible conjuration from Luna herself. "Wake up, Mum," she said again.

For a split second, Ben didn't see a little blonde girl leaning over her mother. He didn't see a ghostly form made from the mist of her daughter's pain. He saw a beautiful woman in black, with red hair splayed around her head, wavering in the slight breeze that blew through the pipes.

Force training failed him. Fifteen years of pain boiled up, and Ben Skywalker realized he was crying.

He climbed all the way up into the tower and softly let the lid down, and then walked across the dusty, abandoned class room until he knelt down beside Luna.

Luna's eyes were watery, her cheeks flushed and her nose red. "She won't wake up," she said. "Why won't Mum wake up?"

He looked down, and in the mist he saw the features of a beautiful woman in a witch's robes, with finely honed features. She stared sideways at their knees, her lips parted in death.

Suddenly the features changed. Hair grew longer, the position of the body changed. Ben gasped as the ghostly image changed to his mother. "Your mum wouldn't get up either," Luna said quietly.

"No," Ben admitted. His voice came out like ground spice, rough with his tears. "I found her like that. Jacen tried to tell me it was someone else who killed her, but even then I knew. He wanted to make me Sith like he was, turn me to the Dark Side. And I came so close." He hiccupped. "I wanted to kill him so badly."

He felt slender fingers in his hands, and turned to see Luna. She was weeping openly now. "I think I might be broken," she whispered weakly. She looked up, gasping. Just like the strange apparition of their mothers, he saw shadows whispering in the room. Around them, the shadows gathered and took on insectile characteristics. Claws and shells, all of deepest obsidian.

"The Nargles," Luna whimpered. "They always come when it's bad."

She sagged against him as her nightmares continued to materialize before them. Ben wiped his eyes, and remembered what Hermione had said to him. He removed his wand, and shouted one of the charms he learned that morning. "_Lumos Maxima_!"

The blinding, brilliant white light flared through the room. When it faded, the nargles were gone, as was the ghostly image of his mother's body.

"How illuminating," Luna said. Her voice was calm, her face clear. "Ben, you look odd. Have you been crying?"

He shook his head. "I need to meditate," he said.

She stood and brushed dust from the knees of her robe. "I'll leave you to it, then. I have to get to class. Professor Black gets impatient when we miss class. I believe I heard Hermione say he missed one of his potions this morning." She exited through the trap door, and left as if nothing had happened.


	9. The Rivals Who Snogged

**Chapter Nine: The Rivals Who Snogged**

Dinner was an interesting experience. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas sat at the Slytherin table in absolute silence across from a pale Daphne Greengrass and a bored-looking Blaise Zabini. Ben sat nearby, studying the transfiguration book with a creased brow.

With an impatient sigh, he closed the book and ate something called a steak and kidney pie that tasted too good to be entirely healthy.

"Trouble with transfiguration?" Zabini asked. "Had a spot of trouble with it myself first year."

Greengrass snorted. "You've been doing transfiguration since you were eight. Liar."

Zabini shrugged. "Just trying to help."

"It's harder than in looks," Finnigan said, speaking for the first time during the entire meal.

Daphne snorted again. "I remember you blew up your feather every day for three straight days in charms," she said.

"Should'a seen what the bloke did in transfig," Thomas said without looking up from his plate. "Thought McGonagall was going to choke."

"Stuff it, you!" Finnigan said.

"I remember that!" Zabini said suddenly. "That was you? Took three days to put the desk aright. Only time I ever saw McGonagall take that many points away from her own house in a class that year."

Finnigan rolled his eyes. "Point is, transfig's not that easy if you never done it 'afore. Now, I'm about to take my NEWT in it and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get top marks. It's just getting past that first stump."

"Thank you," Ben said honestly. "I'll try not to destroy any furniture in the process."

The four other students snickered. "So Ben, you transferred," Greengrass said. "But you've never done Transfig. Where did you go to school?"

"The Praxeum."

"That in Australia? You sound a little Australian."

Ben made a show of nodding as he took a large bite of his pie.

"Wonder what it's like in Australia?" Daphne said a little wistfully.

"Upside down," Finnigan said, straight-faced.

Greenglass's glare faded quickly into snickers.

That night, Ben sat alone in his room and practiced transfiguration in his pajama bottoms. He stuck with the matchstick. Once or twice he thought he caught a gleam, as if it was changing into metal, but every time he examined it more closely, it remained wood.

He was up a bit later than the previous night as he allowed his frustration to mount. He did not hear the door open, but suddenly Luna Lovegood stood in his room. She wore a brilliant, almost painfully bright yellow sleeping shirt. There were two huge black spots over her chest and a leering smile that swung below her hips. It took a moment for him to realize it vaguely resembled a happy face.

"Hello," she said casually as she came and sat cross-legged across the matchstick and text book from him. He carefully averted his eyes as she pulled her shirt around her knees. "You're still doing the matchstick?"

"Hermione tells me I have a block."

"I have several. I sometimes use them to build things," Luna said straight-faced. She stood abruptly and walked around until she knelt down directly behind him. He heard a rustle of fabric, and then two brilliant spots of warm flesh against his back as she leaned over him with out the shirt on. She reached one arm over his shoulder for his wand hand. The feel of her breasts pressing against his bare back made heat bloom in his face and a strange rush in his stomach. He hadn't felt like this since the last time he saw Nelanie, and even then it wasn't so strong. The urge to spin around, even just to see, was nearly overpowering.

"Are you okay, Ben?" Luna whispered almost in his ear.

Ben bit back a startled yelp. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to show you something," she said. She took his hand in hers. Her fingers were pale against his, so much so he could see the blue lines of her veins under her skin. "Close your eyes."

He did so, but as much to fight the strange rush of feelings sweeping over his body as anything else. The Force suddenly swirled around them, and seemed to pour down his arm, into his wand, and into the tiny matchstick on the floor.

He opened his eyes, and found himself staring at a metal sewing pin.

"How did you…"

Luna pulled away from him and he heard the sound of fabric against skin. When she came back around to face him, she was covered once more. His back felt cold in her absence.

"I do not know this for a fact," Luna said, "but I've been told the surest way to divert a man's attention from what is right in front of him is to place a pair of breasts against his back. Evidently it works even on space wizards. Once you were distracted, your magic flowed easily enough. Your block is gone."

Ben tried the spell to reverse the transfiguration and watched in awe as the pin changed back. "That was…" He shook his head. "You are going to get me into a lot of trouble, aren't you?"

She grinned. "Oh yes." She stood up, stretched in an enticing manner that brought even more heat to Ben's face, and climbed into his bed. "Are you sleepy?"

He stood and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Luna, have you ever tried to get help? For the nargles?"

"I saw a mediwitch once," Luna said. "She made some potions that tasted awful. I don't remember much from then, but Father says they made me act like a zombie. So I stopped taking them. But you're here, so everything is okay. You make the nargles go away."

"I'm not always going to be here."

"I know. But you'll always be with me. I'm Space Witch, you know. Perhaps you should start calling me that now, to get in some practice."

Ben smiled and shook his head. "By the Force, I wish you wouldn't do this to me."

"Do what?" Luna asked with a slightly overdone batting of her lashes.

"It's just not right," Ben said. "We're sixteen years old. Neither one of us is ready for what you seem to want. And it's…" He surprised himself with the admission. "You are pretty, Luna. And I do like you. But I just don't feel ready for a relationship yet. We've both been through a lot recently."

"I would be perfectly content with sex," Luna said brightly. "We could have the relationship later, when you're ready."

Ben choked on spit and had to leave the edge of the bed until he coughed it clear. "I'm going to take a shower!"

"Do you need…."

"No!"

Ben stayed in the shower for a long time, and gradually turned the heat down until it was nearly icy cold. He stood and let the cold wash over him, to counter-act the heat from his thoughts. He remembered one time when Jacen told him about the therapeutic qualities of cold showers to counter-act girl-syndrome. The younger Ben didn't understand at the time, but he did now.

He almost smiled. There were many good memories with Jacen. Admiration and love, both of which the Solo twin used and manipulated so perfectly it took the deaths of one of his best friends and his mother for him to finally realize that he had lost his cousin, and found a young Sith Lord in his stead.

After an hour, he stepped back into his room into a wash of Force and magical energy that brought him to a dead stop. The walls around him shimmered with dark, threatening shadows. The air itself seemed to vibrate with power. In the center of it, Luna Lovegood twisted in his bed, her eyes closed with strained sleep, while she whimpered in terror.

He stepped toward the bed, and the closer he got, the less energized the air became. At last, as he sat on the edge of the bed, the shadows fled the walls as the Nargles disappeared, and Luna stilled. Her eyes still darted back and forth under her lids, but the more violent aspects of her nightmare seemed to have passed.

_He kept the nargles away._

Unable to sleep himself, Ben scooted to the end of the bed, tucked his feet under his legs lotus style, and sank into the Force. He opened himself up to the currents, hoping for guidance. However, the bright presence of the girl beside him clouded anything the Force might have wanted to share with him. Instead, he cast his awareness out from the planet, reaching for that one bond stronger than any others.

_Dad!_

He felt his father's startled mind awaken. _Ben, are you okay_?

_I'm learning magic. It's strange, but seems to be real. These people can use their power to transfigure non-living things to living things with a wave of their wands. It's astounding._

_Amazing. I've organized search parties for you, Ben, but we're still having some difficulty. Have you learned anything else about where you could be?"_

_Not much. I did see something a while ago of interest. It was a Fallanassi glyph meaning Danger. It was on Luna's father's will._

His father's mind was strangely silent for a moment. _Is Luna the girl you were confused about?_

_Yes. She's…her father died after I arrived, and she lost her mother a few years ago. She's having some type of panic attacks and she's loosing her power accidently to increase the power of the attacks. She's actually hurting herself. And…_

_And you're starting to care for her._

_I just don't want her to be hurt. I want to help her. She…reminds me a little of Nelani, I suppose._

_Who is Nelani?_

Absolute, dead silence in the Force. And then, Luke Skywalker's mind said: _Who is this_?

_Who is this?_

_I am asking you who you are._

_And I am asking you who _you_ are. I know perfectly well who I am. _

_Luna,_ Ben thought with a mental moan, _how can you be listening to us?_

_I'm sure I don't know, but I rather like talking like this. Is this your father? Hello, Mr. Dumplesnort. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I'm sure._

Luke's mental laugh tickled Ben's brain. _Dumplesnort?_

_I'm sure you meant to name your son Olivarious Dumplesnort. It's a much more refreshing name than Skywalker._

Somehow, Ben felt his father's sure, powerful touch brush against both Ben's mind, and Luna's. He could almost hear the girl sigh. _You keep the Nargles away as well,_ Luna said. _If Ben keeps refusing me, will you be my lover instead? I promise age is not an issue. I'd love you even if you were all old and wrinkly._

Even deep in the meditate connection, Ben felt his cheeks burning. However, instead of embarrassment, he felt his father bubbling with genuine mirth. _Hello, Luna Lovegood. I understand you are driving my son to distraction._

_He is driving himself to distraction. I, on the other hand, am being quite open. After all, it was my magic that summoned him. We will get married, give you one grandson and two great grandsons. We will live a long life together and you will be very happy for us. And when we are old and tired, we will return here and be famous old wizards. I will be Space Witch._

Ben was expecting his father to laugh at the notion. He almost sputtered when that laughter did not come. _The Force is very strong with you, Luna,_ Luke said. _As is your suffering. You know you can never fulfill your vision if you do not overcome your pain?_

_I _know_ that!_ Luna's mind said. _Why do you think I keep bothering your son? But as much as I have always and will always love Ben, he has always been very stubborn. Ever since he was a little boy._

Ben sputtered some more. He felt his father's touch, though. Strong, confident, like he used to be before Mother…died. _The Fallannassi connection is interesting. I will contact Akanah and see if she can aid me. In the meantime, Ben, I want you to start teaching Luna Jedi meditation techniques and anything else you think she is ready to learn._

_That sounds very exciting! Can I make humming noises like Ben's sword?_ Luna said.

_What?_ Ben almost fell out of his own meditation.

_The Force tells me she will be a great Jedi,_ Luke continued. _Just as you are learning about their magic, you should teach her about ours._

_Dad,_ Ben begged. He shot images and feelings toward his father—of waking up with her lips on his spine, or the way she came to him every night. The brief flashes of her body when his eyes slipped. A longing he was too frightened to follow. The strange sense of companionship he felt with her. It was a plea for understanding.

_Ben_, Luke responded,_ you are far stronger than you realize. But more importantly, you are a good man. You showed me that, after Mara died. We have both tasted Darkness, son. But Grandmaster or not, it was you who made me see my errors and made sure I walked in the light again. It was you who made me not give up. I trust you, my son. With my life, and with yours. And like me, Luna now trusts you. Follow the Force. Follow your heart. No matter what the future may bring, I will love you and support you. Know that I AM coming. Even if I have to pull moons from their orbits and threaten Chief of State Daala herself, I will find you._

Ben sighed deeply. _I don't think you realize how hard this is for me. Dark Lords have nothing on girls named Lovegood._

His father's mirth filled his mind, and he couldn't help but smile. _Then don't call her Luna. Call her Space Witch. After all, she's going to be your wife one day, isn't she? Surely if she can pull you to her planet with her magic, she can see the future clear enough to know you're in it._

_Dad!_ But the connection had ended. His father was gone.

With a sigh, Ben opened his eyes and saw Luna sitting up in bed across from him in her leering Happy Face shirt. "That was very interesting," she said brightly. "I like your father. He shall make an excellent father in law, don't you think?"

Ben moaned, summoned a pillow with the Force, and covered his head.

Ben woke up the next morning with a wad of blonde hair in his face and a warm body contoured perfectly with his own. He could feel the gentle rise and fall of her chest as her breathing merged with his own. It felt so right.

It felt so… He jumped out of bed. "Ben?" Luna asked sleepily.

"Taking a shower," he said.

"Again?"

"Dirty, need a shower!" was all Ben was able to say.

Thirty minutes of icy cold later, Ben walked back into his room and sighed in relief to find that she was gone. He got dressed in some of the work-out clothes he picked up in Diagon Alley and started down to the common room. He didn't realize how early it was until he saw no one was there, so he continued through the castle.

He took to jogging through the castle not just as a means of exercise, but also as a means of learning the layout of the strange place. He knew for a fact that it changed almost daily. On any given day, a hallway could have anywhere from two to ten classrooms. Stairwells moved about at random, sometimes with students on them. Even the basic floor plan seemed to change, as if the whole castle was alive. However, he learned enough of the basics to know where the headmaster's office was, as well as the hospital wing, the library, the common room and a host of other classrooms that seemed more or less stable.

When he finished making the rounds of the castle, he moved outside and ran around the lake at full speed. He bathed himself in the Force, but did not use it to refresh himself. It was one of his mother's many lessons growing up—he would never know just how much he could do with the Force if he never learned what he could do without it.

Even without the Force, he was able to lap the lake in forty minutes. It was on his return lap that he felt two presences ahead of him. He slowed gradually and started to take a different route up to the castle when he heard Daphne Greengrass's angry voice.

Taking an interest in the welfare of his housemate, Ben glided forward using just a touch of the training his cousin had given him. No one would ever know he was there.

A part of him feared what he would see. Daphne Greengrass with Malfoy or another Death Eater, threatening her remaining family. Or possibly Voldemort himself.

He prepared himself to attack. He did not prepare himself for what he did see.

Seamus Finnigan was talking loudly, his hands flying about, and Daphne Greengrass was crying and equally enraged. Finally, she shouted, "Will you just shut up!" and with that last straw, she pulled the stunned Gryffindor forward into a deep, passionate kiss.

Ben blinked, so shocked he almost slipped out of his Force-hiding. Seamus too seemed stunned by actions. When they parted, he stammered a bit and stared at her, wide-eyed. "Thought you hated me," he finally said lamely.

"I do," Greengrass said. Then she pulled him down again, and he did not resist as their lips met. Her hands started pulling at his school robes, and sensing her need, Seamus started doing the same to her.

Ben, realizing he REALLY needed to be somewhere else, slipped quietly away. He kept his eyes firmly on the castle even as he felt a new wave of heated passion ripple through the Force. It continued to follow him into the castle, taunting him as the couple by the lake projected their need and passion out for every Force-sensitive in the area to feel.

As he started past the main hall, Hermione was walking by and spotted him. "Ben? What's wrong? Why are you so red?"

"Dirty, need shower," was all Ben could say.

He did manage to get breakfast after another long, cold shower. Fortunately, Greengrass and Finnigan had already eaten and were gone. Dean was there and had a strange expression on his face when Ben sat down. Oddly enough, the Gryffindor was having what appeared to be a civilized conversation with a fifth-year Slytherin about the wizard sport Quidditch.

"What'd you do to Finnigan?" Thomas said when Ben sat.

"What?"

"Came in like someone just ate his bleedin' cat, is what," the Gryffindor said. "Ain't never seen him spooked like that."

Mimicking Luna, Ben said, "I'm sure I don't know."

Speaking of the witch, she plopped down next to Ben, much to the surprise and dismay of the Slythins. "What are you doing, Looney?" Blaise Zabini said. "This is the Slytherin table."

"And Ben is my Slytherin," Luna announced. She leaned over and in a conspiratorial whisper, added, "And I'm his Space witch!"

Ben moaned and let his head fall to the table with a loud _CRACK_.

"Having some issues there, Skywalker?" Dean said with a snort.

Ben shook his head while keeping his face to the table. He only looked up when he felt a powerful presence nearby. "Mr. Skywalker, if I may interrupt your study of our dining tables?"

Ben looked up at Professor Dumbledore. "Have you come to shoot me and put me out of my misery?"

"Sadly, no."

"I can do it if you want," Luna said. "But it might hurt a little."

"There's probably a line of people who would do it," Zabini added.

"But if I did it, then I could kiss it later and make it all better," Luna countered.

Ben dropped his head again. _CRACK_.

"Despite the questionable medical value of concussions in general," Dumbledore said, "I grow a little concerned for the safety of the table. Also, I do need a moment of your time after your breakfast."

Ben ignored the rest of his meal, grabbed the satchel with his transfiguration and charms books, and jumped to his feet. "Now is as good a time as any!" he said with fervent zeal.

The two of them walked through the school until they came to the gargoyle guarding the professor's office. "Plum drops," the old wizard said.

Ben came in, and at the professor's assistance, sat down in a chair nearby. The professor settled behind his desk and sat studying Ben for several long, silent seconds. "Ms. Granger assures me that you have proven to be quite promising. Her exact words were, 'I do believe he is almost as smart as I am.' Now, if you knew Ms. Granger as well as I do, you would realize what remarkable praise this is."

"He is smart, and he's going to teach me how to be a Space witch!" Luna announced cheerily.

Ben's head fell toward Dumbledore's desk. _CRACK_. That time it hurt more—Dumbledore's desk was made of a harder wood than the dining tables.

"Miss Lovegood," Dumbledore said without a trace of humor or apparently surprise, "what are you doing here? Don't you have arithmancy at this hour?"

Luna looked about the room with large, silvery eyes. "Professor Vector doesn't even notice I'm gone," she said with a bright, cheery smile. She seemed to bounce as she took a seat beside Ben. "I'm going to be a Jedi, like Ben. His Father said so. You would like him, Professor. He's as powerful as you are. Probably a little more, but his magic is very different. He touched my mind and gave me the giggles. I offered to be his lover since Ben won't take me, but I think he was just humoring me."

Ben leaned back in his chair with his eyes stinging with tears. Dumbledore's desk was indeed much harder than the tables. He very desperately needed to get away.

"I'm sure you had nothing to do with his coming," Dumbledore started to say. "I am, however, most curious on how you came to be in my office."

Ben took a very deep, ragged breath. His face felt hot, and he tried to ignore the concerned expressions around them. "I thought he was joking, but he wasn't."

"Who?" Dumbledore said.

"My father. He said she pulled me out of my flight path. I thought he was joking, but when I go back over it, I realize he wasn't laughing when he said that. That's what he meant about her being a Jedi." He turned and stared at her. "You were able to snatch a star fighter out of space and hurl it Force knows how far. You really did bring me here, didn't you?"

"I told you," Luna huffed and rolled her eyes. She smiled at the stunned expression on the headmaster's face. "I wished for someone to make things better, and my magic brought a knight in shining armor."

Dumbledore looked from Luna's excited expression to Ben's glum one, and with a stroke of his luxurious beard said, "I sense there is a larger story here."

"She is sleeping with me," Ben said. "She arrives every night."

"He keeps the nargles away," Luna said. "Best sleep I've had in years."

The old man's jaw dropped, though with the beard it was barely noticeable. "And how are you entering the Slytherin boy's dorm, Ms. Lovegood? I understand that Professor Slughorn has the common room heavily warded against non-Slytherins."

Luna shrugged and smiled.

"And you, Mr. Skywalker, what are you doing with Miss Lovegood during these nightly visits?"

"He takes a lot of showers," Luna said for Ben. "He looks very cold when he comes out."

"I have explained that it isn't appropriate for her to be in my room, sir," Ben said. "I explain it very nearly every night. My dad thought it was funny. He laughed about her being my wife one day."

"We're going to name our son Nataniel," Luna whispered conspiratorially to the headmaster. "Master Skywalker saw it when he touched me mind. He has a very nice feel to him."

Ben moaned and covered his face. "I'm not sure how much of this I can take," he said.

"There are more powerful wards I could use," Dumbledore said.

Suddenly Luna's hand stopped moving on Ben's back. "Please don't," she said.

Ben sat up, and stared. Her expression of blissful cheer was gone. Instead he saw the expression of a terrified little girl. "If I can't be near him, the nargles come back. They're dreadful, Professor. Please don't try to keep me from my Ben."

Dumbledore leaned forward with a most serious and troubled expression. "Miss Lovegood, Mr. Skywalker is not here to make you sleep easier. He is here, by his own admission, to help us combat Voldemort. I can easily see that you are distracting him from that task. More importantly, it is wildly inappropriate for you to be sneaking into a boy's room at night and sleeping with him. Whether invited or not, though the latter makes it even more egregious, such activity is not acceptable for children your age. I'm sorry, child, I truly am, but I cannot allow these nightly visits to continue. I will ward Mr. Skywalker's room further, and I do not want to hear of you trying to sneak into his room again."

Luna reared back as if stunned. "Well," she said absently. "All right then."

She stood and walked calmly out of the room. "This isn't going to end well," Ben muttered.

When she was gone, the professor examined Ben closely. "Your father really believed she was the reason you are here?"

"I think so. I saw something on her father's will—she called it the symbol for the Deathly Hollows, but it's actually a Fallannasi glyph representing danger. If the Fallannasi came to this world at one point, they could have easily folded the whole planet into the White Current. My father's done that before. That could be why Father's having such trouble finding it, and why you've never been contacted by the larger galactic community. Heck, Luna even acts like a Fallannasi sometimes." He sighed. "She needs help, Professor."

Dumbledore nodded. "So do we all, Ben. Now that I have you here, though, there is something else I wish to discuss with you."

The old wizard stood and began poking one-handed through several shelves until he pulled a small pile of items off. Ben saw a dirty, torn and ripped book, a broken gold ring, a shattered gold locket with a snake on it, a shattered red stone set in a gold frame, and a lock of black hair. "What are these?"

"These were vessels for Lord Voldemort's soul."

Ben stared. Shifting to his Force-senses, he could feel a miasma of darkness around each object. "Like Sith alchemy?"

"I can't say for sure, knowing little to nothing of Sith. However, there is a vile and dreadful curse by which one can separate a part of one's soul into an object. Doing this leads to a type of immortality, such as it is. Voldemort, whose real name was Tom Riddle, split his soul into six parts. And on October 31st, 1981, he was about to do so again with the murder of a little boy prophesized to be his end. After killing James and Lily Potter, he cast a killing curse on little Harry Potter. A curse no one has ever survived. But in her dying moments, Lily gave her life for her son, and gave Harry a magical protection stronger than anything conceived of before or since. The curse rebounded off Harry and destroyed Voldemort's body. In the process, it also transferred the seventh and last portion of his soul into Harry himself."

Ben listened raptly. "But you said…."

"Harry died three years later. He was four years old. He died because a foolish, trusting old wizard put him with a terrible, abusive family and just assumed he would be all right. Harry's death cost me dearly. Not only did I lose a valuable ally and spy who owed a life-debt to the child, but I also lost my own will to fight. Two years ago, when I realized Tom had returned, I set out to try and find the other portions of his soul. We already had his diary…" Dumbledore pointed to the book, "and destroyed it handily enough. The other items proved more troublesome."

"Your hand?" Ben asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "The ring was cursed. The curse cannot be lifted, undone, or fully stopped."

Ben nodded but then froze when he understood just what that meant.

"Yes," the old wizard said, "I am dying, Ben. In a year, perhaps two if I am lucky, the curse will finish me. But in the meantime, I was able to find two more items. That means that there are only two more items housing his soul. We cannot truly defeat him until these items are destroyed."

"Do we know what they are?"

"Given Tom's fascination with the founders of the school, I would think it is something of Helga Hufflepuff's. If I were to guess, I would assume her cup. It was a fantastic work of magic, and disappeared in 1946 when her last descendent was murdered. I believe that Tom was behind that death. And the last…" He sighed. "The last I just don't know."

"So, what if I were to cut off his head? Would that at least slow him down?"

"For a while," Dumbledore admitted. "Then he would gain a new body, and repeat the cycle again. And Ben, you must understand something. Tom is extremely powerful, much more so than most wizards. Not even I could hope to face him now, not weakened as I am. Do not attack him thinking you cannot be defeated. You've faced brawls, but you've yet to encounter a true wizarding duel."

Ben nodded. "Then we need to fix that, don't we?"

"I had hoped you to have more training in magic," Dumbledore said.

"I'll know better how to train if I know what I'm facing."

Dumbledore studied him for the longest time. "You're right, of course. Go to your meeting with Miss Granger, I believe she's waiting for you. This afternoon, I'll arrange for you to duel with Professor Black. For all his troubles, the man is a brilliant duelist. I, meanwhile, will attend to the wards around your room."

"Professor, do you think Luna will be all right? She has these nightmares, and I've seen her actually create monsters that come after her."

Dumbledore blinked. "I don't know, dear boy."

Hermione was reading when Ben arrived in class twenty minutes later. "You're late."

"Had a meeting with the Headmaster. We discussed Luna and Horcruxes."

Hermione nodded. "The diary horcrux almost killed Ginny Weasley. If Professor Dumbledore hadn't arrived in time, that basilisk would have finished me and the diary would have sucked Ginny dry of her magic and life." She shook her head. "So, how is the Luna situation?"

"She managed to get into the headmaster's office during our meeting. No idea how she does it. Dumbledore is putting extra wards on my room now."

"How'd she take it?"

"She was scared at first, then completely calm."

Hermione shook her head. "That doesn't sound good. I'll ask Padma to look in on her. She's in Ravenclaw."

"Thanks," Ben said, more relieved than he thought he would be. "Whatever else we can say about her, she did help me get past that block. Watch."

He took a match and transfigured it into a sewing pin, then switched it back.

"Very nice," Hermione said. She smiled slyly. "How'd she help you do that?"

At Ben's fiery blush, she laughed and said, "Never mind. Last year I'd be blushing just as much as you are."

Ben chose not to delve too deeply into the meaning implied by that statement. "I'm going to have a duel with Sirius this afternoon. Just to show me what I'm actually in for."

"That's a good idea," Hermione said. "So, let's get to it."

Ben learned Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and dozens of spells, trying his best to make up for his failures the previous day. By the time the lesson ended, Hermione was shaking her head. "What I wouldn't give to have a memory like yours," she said.

"It's overrated," Ben said. "There are some things I would like very much to forget."

At lunch, Ben noticed that Finnigan and Wesley were both there, but Daphne Greengrass was noticeably absent. "Where's Daphne?" Ben asked as he sat down.

"That's Ms. Greengrass, Skywalker," Zabini said.

"That's Mr. Skywalker to you, Mr. Zabini," Ben said. "So, where's Daphne?"

He noticed Finnigan blushing into his plate. Zabini shrugged. "Stomach wasn't feeling so good, she said."

Ben nodded and ate a quick, light meal. He did not want to feel weighed down for his duel with Sirius. However, he was curious about the Slytherin prefect. He used the hour he had between lunch and his afternoon dueling session to go to the Slytherin commons. The common room was empty as all the other students were still at lunch or on their way to classes.

Except, Ben saw, for two students in a partially hidden alcove at the very back of the room. He recognized the long raven hair of Greengrass and slipped into the Force, disappearing from view. As he approached, he heard their voices. The other girl with her was Tracey Davis, one of the few Seventh-years not kicked out with Malfoy's Death Eaters.

"…can't believe I did it," Greengrass was whispering. "What was I thinking, being so stupid! A bloody Gryffindor! My father is going to kill me!"

Davis was rubbing a hand against the other girl's back. "No he isn't, Daphne. Not after what happened to Astoria. You're the last of the bloodline."

At first Ben thought Daphne was simply using hyperbole or joking, but Tracey Davis's response made him wonder.

"It's just that…" Daphne sniffed. "It was nice." She slumped in on herself, as if completely lost. "We were fighting. Arguing like mad. Ever since Skywalker made him sit at our table yesterday. Every word we had was angry. For some reason we were both at breakfast early and the fight got going so loud we took it outside. It turned into a walk, but we kept arguing. Then by the water, I saw him staring at my lips, and I was staring at his, and we were kissing. And kissing good. And then we had our hands on each other and…" She paused, caught in the memory. "Tracey, I don't know what to do. He was nice. I thought he'd go blabbing about it to all his friends, but he hasn't. He hasn't said a word. And he's acting all mental around me, like he wants to be my boyfriend or something. Like he's trying to protect me. Merlin's Beard, Tracey, what am I supposed to do?"

"He's a pureblood, even if he's a Gryffindor," Tracey said. "Maybe you should date him. Get to actually know him, now that you've…you know…_known_ him."

Daphne moaned. "Gods, that was awful."

"What do you want me to say? At least he's better than any of the gits we had in our own house. I was about to hex Nott. He kept grabbing my bum and acting like he was doing me a favor." Tracey sighed. "Now that I know he had the Dark Mark, I guess I should be happy I didn't. Bloody git would probably have killed me." She paused. "You know, maybe having a boyfriend who is nice, and who wouldn't try to murder your whole family or take you on killing sprees, could be fun. Never know for sure until you try it."

Ben backed out, feeling suddenly dirty for eavesdropping on such an odd, yet personal conversation. Instead, he slowly made his way back up to into the third floor where he was told to meet Sirius. However, when he arrived at the spot he was supposed to meet the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, the professor and the room he needed were both noticeably absent.

He was saved when Hermione came around the corner with Professor Flitwick. "Hello, Mr. Skywalker," the diminutive Charms professor said. "I understand we may have a chance to view this wandless magic of yours."

Ben nodded. "I can't find the class, though."

Just as he spoke, the wall beside him groaned. The young Jedi jumped away with his hand on his saber when he watched a door forming. "I will never get used to that," he said aloud.

"The Room of Requirement," Flitwick said. "We rediscovered it quite by accident while searching for Horcruxes, believe it or not. It appears that Lady Ravenclaw's diadem was stored here. Please, come in."

Hermione smiled at Ben and nodded. He stepped in, followed by the other two. He was surprised to find Dumbledore there, as well as Alastor Moody. Sirius Black was also present and wore a strange set of padded, scaled armor.

"Ben!" Sirius said with a skittish energy. "Come in, come in! 'Allo, 'Mione. How's our new student doing?"

Hermione ignored the slight blushes of the older men, stepped across the room and gave the professor a kiss on the cheek. "He's gone through two years of Charms and Transfig curriculum in two days," she said.

Black's eyes widened. "Impressive. Well, come on then, let's not waste time."

The whole room seemed to shift around them. The walls sprouted padding like fungus and the ceilings stretched upward giving them all more room. The whole place felt almost alive in the Force.

Noticing his gaze, Hermione said, "The Room of Requirement is charmed to provide whatever you really need. We think it was created by the founders of the school itself. Since we need a dueling chamber, it's adjusting itself for that purpose."

Ben, beyond amazement, merely shrugged. After all the things he had seen in the past two weeks, it did not seem so shocking any more. "Okay. Do we have any ground rules?"

"Don't kill me," Sirius said, "and I won't try to kill you."

Ben nodded, removed his lightsaber and pulled the control lever down to training mode. He noticed Sirius's eyes. "What's that?"

"That, according to Arthur," Dumbledore said, "is Mr. Skywalker's light sword."

"We call it a lightsaber," Ben said. "I've set it to training mode. It will cut through anything right now but flesh. So I can't actually hurt you."

"Sounds good. _Expelliarmus!_"

Black was very fast, but Ben noticed how his arm tensed and how his breath caught in his throat moments before he cast the spell.

Ben danced aside.

Suddenly the wizard began shooting off spells with the speed of a repeater blaster. Different colored streaks of light dashed toward him. Ben either danced clear, or on two occasions used his sword to deflect them back toward Black.

Sirius danced aside himself on nimble feet.

Suddenly the floor under Ben's feet turned to water. He dove away, only to have to dodge a series of metal balls that materialized from Sirius's wand. Treating them like drone practice, Ben let the Force guide his movements as he swatted them all down. He had only a moment's warning before the floor itself bulged up in the form of a hand to grab his ankle. At the same time Sirius unleashed another volley of spells.

Needing time to free himself, Ben reached out to a plate of reflective metal on a far wall and summoned it with the Force. It flew across the room as fast as the spells and caught every one as Ben slashed at the stone hand with his saber. He then let the metal plate fall as he dove over it and charged Black.

"_Protego!_" Black roared as Ben's saber came down.

The young Jedi bounced back, surprised, when his saber skidded along the edge of the magical shield without penetrating. Taking advantage of the distraction, Black shot another volley of spells at Ben. He dodged most, but a stunning spell hit him in his left arm and sent him spinning across the room.

He landed in a practiced roll, emerged on his feet and reached out a hand. Sirius lifted off his feet with a startled yelp and flew roughly into a column nearby. He collapsed to his knees, and then started laughing. Still with that almost maniacal laughter, he jumped to his feet and flung magic of almost every description at Ben.

With no hope of catching it all, Ben dove into the Force. "Where'd he go!" Black screamed. "Did he cast an invisibility charm?"

Ben's saber emerged from the Force under Sirius's chin, followed by the rest of the young Jedi. "It's a Force technique my cousin taught me," Ben said almost in Sirius's ear.

"Bravo!" Flitwick cried out with happy applause.

"Lucky," Moody said. "Boy, do that trick again."

Moody reminded Ben a little of a very grumpy Kyle Katarn. With a nod, he slipped back into the Force.

The auror raised his wand and yelled, "_Reveal_!"

Ben could not describe the sensation around him, other than to equate it with birth. He was squeezed from the Force so painfully it felt as if his body was being crushed. He landed on his knees, gasping.

"You're magic's different, no doubt," Moody said, "but it's not necessarily better. My eye could see you the whole time, Skywalker. And I guarantee you Voldemort can too. Black gets too excited when he fights. It's all a big bloody game to him. But I know this isn't a game, and I see in your face you know it isn't either."

"Fighting is never a game," Ben agreed as he found his breath and stood.

"Still, I wish I could move that fast," Moody said. "We're going to do this every afternoon, boy. Granger, you squeeze all your lessons in the morning. In the afternoon, he's going to be dueling aurors and duelists. Not just over-grown puppies."

"I am not a puppy!" Black said.

"Yes you are," Hermione said as she pinched his cheek. "A big, old, overgrown puppy."

Sirius shook his head. "Don't know why I put up with you."

Hermione laughed freely. "Because I put up with you."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot."


	10. The Man Who Loves Hermione Granger

**Chapter Ten: The Man Who Loves Hermione Granger**

Ben could not sleep that night.

It was not bad dreams keeping him up, or even physical discomfort. An hour of Force-meditation washed away any soreness he had from his dueling exercise.

No, if he was honest with himself, Ben knew exactly why he could not sleep. He missed Luna.

Perhaps not Luna as a person, he tried to reason. Rather, he missed her physical presence. He felt cold without her body curled next to him. He missed the weight of her hand on his chest, or the tickle of her lips against his back.

_Shavit_, he missed her Force presence. After only two weeks, the strange girl's Force signature had become so familiar to him he felt odd, even a little lost, without it.

Dumbledore's new wards worked very well. He did not have any visitors. He knew it was for the best. His Jedi resolve was slowly falling before teenage hormones and genuine desire. Waking up to her next to him was both soothing and exciting. As a Jedi, he knew he should not be having such thoughts, but as a sixteen-year-old boy, the idea of a beautiful young girl who was not only available, but who actively wanted him to take advantage of her, was almost too much to resist.

Every time he shifted in his bed, he caught a whiff of her scent from the pillows where she rested that previous night. They smelled like plums. He never had a fruit quite like the Earth plum. It was faintly tart, yet succulent and sweet, with sugary juices that ran down his chin.

"Oh _shavit_!" Ben muttered as he sat up in bed. Thinking about plums immediately swung his mind back to Luna and that first, enticing look he had at her back at her house, when he woke up on his backward planet for the first time. She looked so sleepy and innocent in her nudity. She looked so beautiful.

Ben groaned as his eidetic memory betrayed him with every detail of every time he saw her skin. Every flash of her stomach, or her neck or the slender, pale legs that showed whenever she wore those blinding sleeping shirts. The inward curve of her hips. Her perfect breasts. The way her eyes seemed to bore into him whenever she looked at him. It felt sometimes as if she could see the terrible things he had done during his time in the Galactic Alliance Guard, and simply didn't care.

For some reason Ben did not understand, he had tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered, though he did not know to whom.

After another icy shower, Ben dressed in trainers and left the castle before the sun even rose. With his lightsaber at his belt, he took his morning run around the lake. The darkness did not hinder him—he reached out with his senses and let the Force both guide and energize him.

It was with the Force that he felt the small group on the other side of the lake. He continued running and as he approached he sensed a vaguely familiar Force presence and an all-too familiar miasma of darkness.

Only as he grew closer did he realize it was Malfoy and several others that he ousted just earlier that very week.

He slipped into the Force, but remembering Moody's lesson also sought refuge among the huge trees that lined the lake. As he approached within earshot, he heard the group speaking loudly. "…take him somehow."

"Because we did so good the first time around," a girl said.

"Enough, Pansy." This was Malfoy. The girl Pansy was the hard-faced prefect. "The Dark Lord has set this task before us. We know what will happen if we fail. We must gather this new tool of Bumbledork's and bring him before our Lord. Or we don't go back at all."

There were ten of them—all the students Ben expelled. They were steeped in darkness, but they were also so young. It never occurred to Ben that he was only sixteen himself, and these students were all either his age or older. He looked at them from the perspective of a former soldier and near Sith apprentice. These were just kids.

They were kids molded into weapons and marked by dark intent.

Ben closed his eyes, summoned the Force, and cast his mind across the lake. He had done this once before, when he summoned Dumbledore to the Slytherin commons room. He found the headmaster's consciousness, awake. The old wizard felt very tired to Ben, and the pain coming from his cursed arm burned like fire even at this early morning.

Ignoring the Headmaster's infirmities, Ben sent his thoughts to him and waited.

Meanwhile, the ten former students continued their plotting.

"I think the best way is to lay a trap," Malfoy said. "We saw him running yesterday. We just need to prep his path."

"Did you see how fast he was running?" another said.

"Shut it, Crabbe," Pansy snarled. "We saw. Doesn't matter. We make the trap large enough to hold him. Wards to trap him and curse him. The Dark Lord won't mind if he's hurt, so long as he is alive to enjoy his interrogation."

"He's been seen with that Granger whore," another girl said.

"She's Black's," Pansy said. "A disgrace to the Ancient and Honorable House of Black. The fact he's sleeping with a mudblood further shows how far his house has fallen. Not to mention she's young enough to be his daughter."

"Isn't your sister's husband fifty eight?" another voice asked.

"He's a pureblood Bulgarian nobleman. It was an honorable and profitable match," Pansy snapped back. "And this isn't about us. It's about…what was that?"

Around the group of kids came popping _Crack_ sounds. In the Force, Ben felt Order of Phoenix members appearing through their odd teleportation magic. Almost immediately he felt a heavy weight on his consciousness.

"Anti-apparition shields!" Malfoy cried. "We've been found out. Run!"

Before they could, half a dozen red spells shot out from the woods. Four of them hit their targets and sent the younger wizards tumbling. However, Malfoy and Pansy both employed the shielding spell Sirius showed Ben the previous day.

Spells started flying wildly between the six remaining Death Eaters and the six Order members in the woods. Ben watched, fascinated. When he first encountered the Death Eaters, he assumed the spells were similar to blaster bolts. After all, he deflected a killing spell. However, with his admittedly small but growing knowledge of magic, he saw a mix of charms, hexes, curses and transfigurations happening at an astonishing pace.

Malfoy may not have been much of a threat in a physical fight, but he fought with aplomb and obvious skill and training. Pansy, the hard-faced girl by his side, fought with equal skill and viciousness in her casting and intent Malfoy seemed to lack.

They moved as they fought, trying to get past whatever wards Dumbledore had cast to keep them from teleporting away.

Still, experience won out over youthful exuberance. One by one, the young Death Eaters fell, until at the end Malfoy and Pansy were the only ones still fighting, back to back.

Suddenly the ground reached up around them and seemed to swallow them both up to their shoulders. The effect of the earth's suction forced both of their wand hands to point up, where a pair of red spells quickly shot the wands away.

Albus Dumbledore stepped from behind a tree, followed by Moody, Flitwick, McGonagall, Hermione Granger, and Sirius Black.

"Very nice bit of transfiguration, Ms. Granger," McGonagall said. "Fifty points to Gryffindor."

Black started chuckling. "Minerva, we just had a standing battle with Death Eaters, and you're awarding points? Why don't you subtract a thousand points from Slytherin for these arses turning into Death Eaters in the first place? That'll cow Voldemort for sure!"

"Enough, Sirius," Dumbledore said.

Black continued wildly as if he didn't hear and McGonagall's face reddened in fury. The man's eyes were wide and blood shot, and his hands shook as he spoke. "I mean, why don't we start deducting points for Voldemort's actions? Slytherin would be in the negative millions by now, don't' you think?"

Hermione touched his arm. "Sirius," she said softly.

Where Dumbledore's words were lost and McGonagall's overt hostility was ignored, the whispering of his name by Hermione brought Black to a dead stop. He looked into her eyes a moment, then around him, and shrugged. "Sorry. Forgot my potions."

Just then Ben stepped into the clearing. Sirius saw him, and as if finding a new bottle of energy, said, "And here's our new savior the Space Wizard. Tell me, Space Wizard, why didn't you just use that light sword of yours and cut all their heads off?"

"Sirius!" Dumbledore roared. "That is enough!"

The professor jumped and blinked. Sirius looked and saw the two disarmed and fully aware Death Eaters staring not at himself or Dumbledore, but at Ben. "Merlin's balls," he muttered.

"You fool!" Moody said. He turned to the two youths, lifted his wand and roared, "_Obliviate_!"

Pansy cried in pain as the spell hit her square in the face. She sagged against the transfigured ground holding her body up.

"That won't work!" Malfoy said with a suddenly gleeful laugh. "Our Lord can reconstruct even the most obliviated memories. He'll know! He'll know this is the creature the muggles are searching for, and he'll help them. You won't just be facing the most powerful wizard in the world, you'll have to fight off the whole muggle population! So much for your secret weapon!"

"Guess we'll just have to kill you then, won't we, boy?" Moody said.

Malfoy never stopped laughing. "You wouldn't dare! I'm Lucius Malfoy's son!"

Ben closed his eyes against the tension in the clearing. Darth Caedus would have killed all the Death Eaters in an instant. Even a Jedi was not above killing, but only when necessary.

"I'm not willing to let them die for my own protection," Ben said aloud.

"It's not up to you, boy," Moody growled. "It's about all of us now."

"You're not going to execute him," Ben said.

"No, he's not," Sirius said. He took a deep sigh. "I am." He lifted his wand, and as both Hermione and Ben rushed forward, he said, "_Avada kedavra! Avada kedavra!"_

Just like that two bolts of sickly green light erupted from his wand. Malfoy screamed when the spell struck him. His head whipped about so violently they could hear his neck snap. Pansy, still unconscious from Moody's spell, bounced bonelessly within her bonds. In the Force, their life energy disappeared instantly.

"Oh God, Sirius," Hermione whispered.

Black let his wand drop to the leafy ground, then followed a moment later as he fell to his knees. Ben too knelt down. In the absolute stillness of death, Malfoy did not look like a threat or a Death Eater. He looked like a handsome, seventeen year old boy. Pansy Parkinson did not look like a vicious witch. Her hardened features had softened into those of a beautiful young woman, with dark hair hanging like a curtain over her face.

"Had to be done," Moody said gruffly. "The gloves come off, Albus. If we don't start fighting fire with fire, we'll all go out the same way Scrimgouer did."

"If we fight fire with fire, Alastor," Dumbledore said with such infinite sadness Ben felt his throat clog and his eyes sting, "then it merely increases the odds that we will all get burned."

Sirius bowed his head to the leaves, and Ben could feel his anguish. Hermione, torn by his pain from her own shock, rushed to his side and draped an arm around his back. "Get him back to the castle, Granger," Moody said. "He's of no use to anyone now."

He looked up at Ben. "What about you, boy? You going to start crying?"

"I didn't want them to die," Ben said. He took a deep breath and forced his own mixed feeling at bay. "But I've taken lives before. As you say, this is war. What about the others?"

"Still out, the lot of them," Flitwick said. He had indeed been checking everyone one.

"Alastor, we'll need to turn them into the Ministry."

"The Dark Lord'll have them back out of Azkaban in a split second," McGonagall said.

"Amelia might have something to say about that," Moody muttered. "Least she's trying. Stupid, bloody waste. Using kids to fight a war."

"Kids have always fought wars," Ben said. "The young are the first ones to fight."

"And the firs to die," Moody agreed. He eyed Ben a moment, and then nodded. "All right, I'm going to get Auror back up. Ben, get back to the castle. Albus, you and your professors watch 'em 'till I get back."

Meanwhile, Hermione was almost physically lifting Sirius from the ground with his wand clutched in her hand. Ben stepped forward to assist, and with each of them under an arm, they started toward the castle.

It made for a very long, uncomfortable walk. Rather than go through the main entrance, Hermione led them into a path that took them through a long, winding tunnel directly into the Room of Requirement. The room shifted into a large bedroom, replete with a bed that they dropped the still sobbing Black into.

"I'll be right back," Hermione said. Wooden doors appeared nearby and she stepped through. Five minutes later she returned with several vials. She fed one after the other to Sirius, until the weeping stopped, his dark eyes closed, and he drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

She remained sitting on the edge of the bed, her fingers tracing the line of his mustache. "He spent several years in the wizarding prison at Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit. There are creatures there called Dementors that literally suck the happiness from a person. Their kiss can kill at worst, and drive a person insane at best. Sirius was kissed repeatedly there. By the time we realized the real culprit was alive and had him released, he had spent years there. He was broken. I spent all of last summer trying to help him."

Ben looked for a chair, and at just the thought one appeared. He sat down across the bed from Hermione. "Is that when you fell in love with him?"

"It's when he fell in love with me," she said. "For me it was just caring for someone who needed help. A problem to be fixed. That's me, the researcher, the fixer. But as he started coming out of his depression, I realized in some ways he was still a boy. Almost his entire adult life was spent in prison. He was stuck at the same age he was when he was imprisoned. He didn't know how to be an adult. Even so, he was witty and filled with a need to live and be happy. I…it was difficult for me in the magical world at first. My first three years I had few friends. Only my abilities earned me respect. But when I was around him, on good days, he made me want to be happy. I wanted to be happy, Ben. Not smart, not accomplished or respected or even loved. I just wanted to be happy. So, on my seventeenth birthday when I reached my majority, I went to him and let him make me happy."

She took Black's hand in hers. "He still needs me. There are still bad days, though not nearly as many. But there have been wonderful days as well. I do love him. And right now he needs me."

Ben reached across and took her hand. "Then be with him. I'll be all right. We'll meet again tomorrow. Take care of your man for now."

Hermione chuckled. "My man. Who ever thought bushy-haired, buck-toothed Hermione Granger would have a man."

At that moment, she looked absolutely beautiful.

"Whoever would have thought any man would be good enough for beautiful, powerful Hermione Granger?" Ben countered. "I'll see you soon."

Thinking about his need to leave, the door appeared before him and he stepped out into the third floor hallway. The hall was empty as students were already in their morning classes. Ben realized he had missed his breakfast, but dismissed it as unimportant. He had missed meals many times on many missions, one more would not hurt.

With nothing else to do, he went back to his room, gathered his books, and found an empty class to start practicing spells. He visualized the battle he just witnessed, and the faces of those young Death Eaters who put up a fight. He emulated their movements and as many of the spells as he could recognize.

He recreated the entire battle, until the very end, when two seven-teen year old children hung lifeless in the clutches of charmed earth.

He realized he had come to a stop, his wand down, his eyes focused on the floor. With a deep breath, Ben broke the spell and looked around at the mess he'd made. He didn't even realize what he was doing until that moment, when he saw the many shattered tables, chairs and desks.

"It's living with it afterward that's hard," Ben said aloud into the room.

"Whatever are you doing?"

Ben jerked up and saw Luna standing in the doorway of the class. Her eyes were ringed in dark circles and her white-blonde hair hung limp around her face. Her skin was even more pale than normal.

She looked so very beautiful Ben's breath caught in his throat. "Practicing," he said. It seemed a very weak explanation.

"I see," she said. "Well, have fun with that."

She turned to start to leave.

"Luna, wait!"

She paused, her back to him as he bound to his feet and crossed the shattered room. He wanted so very much to reach out to her. To hold her. There was so much death in the air, and despite the shadows that seemed to cling to her Luna was so very much alive.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm sure I am fine, thank you for asking," Luna said absently. She remained with her back to him. He tried to sense her in the Force, but felt nothing. Whether intentionally or not, she was completely masking her Force presence.

Ben stood a moment, studying her profile in silence. Her nose was petite and perfectly straight, ending in a point just above the filtrum of her lip. The air almost seemed to quiver. The young boy in him wanted to tell her how much he missed her; how much he longed for her every night. The Jedi in him said, "I'm sorry this is hurting you."

"Whatever do you mean?" Luna asked. Again, she did not turn around.

Ben noticed there were small scratches on her hands. He sighed. "Look, Dad said he wanted me to start training you on meditation techniques at least. Would you like to start?"

"Perhaps another day," Luna said. "I have several examinations coming up. I must revise. It was a pleasant visit." With that, she turned and walked away.


	11. The Boy Who Played Quidditch

**Chapter Eleven: The Boy Who Played Quidditch**

Ben had trouble sleeping again that night, and chose instead to slip into a deep meditative trance that was not much better. Still, he roused himself out of the trance expecting to see Luna lying on his bed, staring at him with that expectant, trusting gaze of hers. He kept catching odd whiffs of plums.

Morning finally came, and for once Ben treated himself to the luxury of a warm shower. His thoughts the previous night were not sexual at all. Rather, he felt merely lonely. He felt guilty. Luna looked so tired and lonely. Hermione and Dumbledore both told him he was doing the right thing. His own Jedi training told him he was going the right thing. And yet his heart told him he was a complete idiot.

At breakfast he noticed once again that Greengrass and Finnigan had their own corner of the sparsely populated Slytherin table. He saw that Luna was not at the Ravenclaw table, but appeared to be sitting with Ginny Weasley at the Gryffindor table. He made a note to talk to her later.

His lesson with Hermione that morning began to explore some of the more intricate spells and magical approaches, including that shielding spell that Sirius Black used so well. She gave him a third and final book on Defense Against the Dark Arts that illustrated and described many spell combinations and new spells that seemed to combine elements of both charms and transfigurations in the later stages.

For the first time since starting at Hogwarts, Ben actually felt his magic. He felt it because he was tiring it out. After lunch, he meditated and studied the power within himself. It was an expression of Force energy, of that he had no doubt. But whereas the Jedi pulled the Force from all around them, this magical incarnation of the Force seemed to come solely from within his own body.

Just out of curiosity, he called the Force to himself and attempted to channel the additional energies through his magical 'core' (as Hermione called it). He was surprised to find that he could not do it. There seemed to be some type of block separating the two expressions of the Force.

That afternoon he dueled Alastor Moody, who was still in a foul mood from the previous day's events. Ben went in expecting to make short work of the older man. He was quickly disabused of the notion.

Where Sirius fought with aplomb, like a lightsaber, Moody fought with brute force, like an old Imperial e-web. He blasted spells at Ben so fast the Jedi spent most of his energy either deflecting spells or darting about the hall. He tried shifting into the Force, only to be painfully wrenched out of it. "Told you that trick doesn't work, boy!" Moody called.

He flung objects at Moody using the Force, only to have them bounce harmlessly off the wizard's magical shield. The floor shifted under his feet. Moody sprayed the floor with water, then shot lightning bolts into it. He shot three cannon balls from his wand with lethal speed. He transfigured nearby statues into ravenous canines that rushed Ben at the same time as the auror launched another volley of spells.

In the end Ben found himself thoroughly wrapped up in rope, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

However, the ex-auror was panting at the exertion of the fight. Nearby, Professor Flitwick and a young, pink-haired Auror Ben remembered as Tonks, applauded.

They were not applauding Moody.

"Good show, Mr. Skywalker!" Flitwick was saying with open enthusiasm.

"I lost," Ben said as Moody vanished the ropes. Where another would tumble painfully to the floor two meters below, Ben flipped quickly and landed on his feet with Force-borne agility.

"Everyone loses to Mad-Eye Moody," Tonks said. "But most lose in a minute or less. I've never seen anyone make him actually pant before."

"Eye, ye did good, lad," Moody said as he limped forward. "Haven't had a work-out like that in years. If that binding spell didn't catch ya, I wasn't sure I had much else in me."

"I look forward to my turn," Flitwick said.

"Still not fighting back with magic, though," Moody said.

"My fighting style's trained pretty deep in me," Ben said. "In dangerous situations I let the Force guide me. But I'm learning."

"Maybe instead of Professor Flitwick," Tonks said, "he should fight me, magic only."

"Only if you don't get carried away, girl," Moody said. He looked at Ben. "She thinks you're cute. That means she'll either try to snog you silly, or kill you in your training."

"Or both," Tonks said with a smile all too similar to Padma Patil's.

Ben fled. At lunch he noticed once again that Luna was sitting with the Gryffindors. She seemed to be leaning on Ginny's shoulder through much of the meal. Afterward, Ben made his way through the departing students.

He noticed how the Gryffindors reflexively tensed when they saw the badge that had magically appeared on his robes once he was sorted. Then they recognized him and relaxed, however slightly.

Ginny was walking between her brother Ron and Hermione Granger, with Susan Bones and Neville Longbottom a step behind. "Ginny, Hermione, may I have a word?" Ben asked.

The two girls nodded at the others and stepped aside. Without preamble, Ginny said, "What have you done to Luna?"

Ben sputtered, but Hermione put a hand on the younger girl's shoulders. "Ginny, it's not Ben's fault. She should not have been sneaking into the Slytherin dorms. Professor Dumbledore strengthened the wards, so now she can't get in."

Ginny did not appear mollified, though she kept her lips pursed tightly together.

"I came to check on her," Ben said.

"She's doing awful," Ginny said. "She went for more dreamless draught today, but that won't last. Madam Pomphrey won't let her take it three days in a row since it's addictive. She's not talking to anybody. She's not taking notes in class…even Professor Flitwick is worried about her."

"I'm sorry," Ben said. "I really don't know what to do, though. It's not like I can sleep with her like she wants."

Ginny leaned forward and said, very clearly, "Why not?"

"Ginny!" Hermione said disapprovingly.

"Oh please, you're only a year old than her and your shagging a man five years younger than my father." She turned back to Ben. "You're thinking about your own self. Maybe, just maybe a good shagging is what she needs."

"You're wrong," Ben said. "She needs more than physical distraction. She needs real help. I've offered. My father's even told me to start training her a little in Jedi meditation. But since the wards went up…I think she hates me."

Ginny shook her head. Her expression softened, if only a little. "She doesn't hate you, Ben. She's heartbroken and alone."

"I know," Ben said. He looked sadly at the two girls. "Please, take care of her. I really…I don't want her hurting."

Ginny _harrumphed_ and walked away.

"You're doing the right thing, Ben," Hermione added softly.

"It doesn't feel that way," Ben said.

The weekend finally arrived, and Ben climbed down the stairs to find much of the Slytherin house gathered in the commons room. Some were reading, others talking. Many were still in pajamas or sleeping attire. Ben saw Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini in one corner with a pair of sixth years and two fifth years. They were having a very heated conversation.

"What's up?" Ben asked as he took a seat uninvited.

The seven glared at him a moment, before Daphne shrugged. "We're discussing Quidditch. And the fact that you managed to get the majority of our team thrown out."

Ben played with the idea of telling them about what happened to Malfoy, but seeing how dispirited they were, chose not to. "So, how many do you need to play?"

They stared at him as if he were daft. "You don't know how to play quidditch?" Zabini finally asked.

"Nor will I, if you don't tell me," Ben said patiently. "So, how many to field a team?"

"Seven players, and seven reservists" Greengrass said with a shake of her head. "Three chasers, two beaters, one keeper and one seeker. Chasers go up and down trying to get the quaffle into one of the three goals on either side of the pitch. The beaters use bats to keep the bludgers from killing our players. The keeper tries to protect the goals from the other team, and the seeker tries to catch the golden snitch. The Golden snitch is worth fifteen goals and ends the game. The seeker is the most important position. Pucey here," one of the sixth years nodded, "is our only chaser. Girls have never played on the Slytherin team, and the rest were either reserves or not playing at all."

Ben looked around the room. Other students had stopped their own conversations to listen. "So do girls play on the other teams?"

"Yes."

"But not on Slytherin?"

"No."

"Why?"

"It's just the way it is," Zabini asked.

"And who enforces the way it is?"

"The Team Captain," Pucey said.

"And who is that?"

"Malfoy," Zabini said.

"He's gone now," Ben said. "And anyone else left who could enforce it. So, if you want to field a team, you need to open it up to your best people, not just the best boys."

"I'm not even sure how many good flyers we have."

Ben blinked. "Flyers?"

Again, they all stared at him. "Quidditch is played on brooms," Greengrass said. "You've really never heard of quidditch? I know they have quidditch in Australia."

"I'm sure they do," Ben said, unconsciously mimicking Luna again. "So, how do we go about having open try-outs?"

"You mean you…want to try and field a team?" Pucey asked.

Ben shrugged. "It's my fault most of your team was gone. I'm a Slytherin. I owe it to you to try and help. So yeah, let's field a team. Pucey here can teach me."

Just then Professor Slughorn walked through the Commons room nodding genially to the students. "Professor," Ben asked, "what would be involved in holding quidditch try-outs?"

"They are normally in October, since the first game is not played until November," Slughorn said. He studied Ben closely. "Are you interested in playing, then?"

"I feel I owe it to my house," Ben said.

"An odd time for loyalty, isn't it?" Slughorn said.

The others watched, but Ben merely shrugged. "Loyalty is shown in many forms, Professor. I fail to see how dedicating yourself to a psychotic murderer should be equated with loyalty to Slytherin."

"We'll keep that in mind for the future, then," Slughorn said before continuing his ponderous way through the commons.

"You are a very strange boy, Skywalker," Greengrass said.

"So I've been told," Ben said.

That day, he sought out the Room of Requirement and, rather than practice magic, instead went through every Jedi _kata_ he knew. Merging as he did with the Force, he couldn't help but feel a strange portent in the air, as if trouble was brewing just on the edge of his perception. He worked all the harder for it. He meditated, exercised, and went through all the sword dances he could think off.

He left the room with a glistening sheen of sweat and a pleasant ache in his thighs from all the leaps he performed. He ran almost directly into Luna. "Luna!" he said without thinking.

"Why, yes I am, thank you," she said absently as she stepped around him.

With a grunt of frustration, he rushed forward and grabbed her arm. "Luna, wait. Don't just run off."

She stopped and turned to stare at him. The dark rings under her eyes were even more pronounced. She appeared to have lost weight, which in someone already thin was alarming. He noticed more lines of red around her hands. He took one while she stood impassible. "Luna, what is happening to your hands?"

"I'm sure I don't know," she said.

Ben held her hands in his and let healing Force energy flow into her cuts. They closed slowly. Luna stood and closed her eyes, swaying a little as the energy entered her hands.

"Luna," Ben said, "I never meant to hurt you. I'm sorry."

"I'm sure I'm just fine, but I thank you for your concern," Luna said. She pulled her hands from his and continued down the third floor hall.

He watched as she went, looking very small and alone in the large hall.

The following Monday had more lessons with Hermione, which were increasingly challenging as they moved info fifth and sixth year territory. "These are OWL and even some early NEWT level spells," she said. "Don't worry if you don't get them right the first time." And even with perfect memory, he didn't. He still had lingering issues with transfiguration, so many of the more advanced spells still vexed him, but even he could not deny the progress he made.

However, he was doubtful of his ability to duel with a professional magical law enforcement agent using only magic.

Still, Tonks was waiting in the Room of Requirement with Moody. Black and Flitwick were both there, and Hermione came that day as well.

"New rules," Moody said. "No light sword. No wandless magic unless it's actually magic. Use spells and your own body. Go now."

The moment his lips formed the second syllable, Tonks launched a full barrage of spells almost as rapidly as Moody himself. Ben dove out of the way, but then had to continue dancing about as he dodged spell after spell. He tried a _protego_ spell with good results, but it limited his offense choices, which were still small compared to the dazzling array of magic being thrown in his direction.

Though his offense was weak, his Force-borne speed made up for a great deal since Tonks literally exhausted herself trying to hit him. Finally her casting slowed down as she tired and Ben started firing spells back. She was able to dodge many of his simple hexes, but then he tried a focused _lumus_ spell that blinded her long enough for him to get a binding spell off.

"Outstanding!" Moody finally said. "Tonks, girl, if I've told you once I've told you a thousand times. If you can't knock him out in the first five minutes you've already lost! You need to get that stamina up!" He cancelled Ben's binding spell with a flick of his wrist.

"I know one way to build stamina," Tonks replied. "Right, Hermione?"

Hermione had the grace to blush and Sirius grinned. He appeared completely over his breakdown the previous week.

"All right, tomorrow it'll be Filius," Moody said. "Man's a former dueling professional. Should be fun."

With the advent of a new week, Thomas and Finnigan were both released from their required attendance at the Slytherin table. That evening, Ben looked around at the remaining students. There were perhaps thirty students total in Slytherin, barely half that of the other houses. The first year class alone barely numbered five, whereas Hufflepuff had fifteen first years.

Because of the smaller number, Ben was able to talk to the whole lot during their evening meal. "So, now that the Gryffs are back at their table, have any of you noticed a difference?"

"No, the Gryffindors still smell unpleasant," Zabini said to the laughter of the others.

A third year girl with thick glasses, however, nodded. "I made friends with a girl from Hufflepuff in Care of Magical Creatures. She helped me with my homework."

That revelation made others stare. "We could have helped you too," Greengrass said.

The girl shrugged. "She helped me because she wanted me to be her friend," the girl said.

"Good," Ben said. "And you, Greengrass. Have you made any friends outside of Slytherin?"

Her cheeks turned an interesting shade of crimson. "Oh shut up," she finally said, while beside her Tracey Davis giggled helplessly.

"I don't understand the 'them or us' attitude with the houses," Ben said. "The Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs, they're still your classmates. The real enemy is out there. I'm not saying you have to love them. But you definitely should not hate them."

"What about you, Skywalker?" Tracey asked. "You make any special friends?"

"Any crazy friends?" Zabini asked.

"Perhaps," Ben said.

Daphne stared at him for the longest time. "You are strange. Lovegood's strange. Together…"

"You're even stranger," Tracey said. "Luna Lovegood. Really? I mean, she's pretty enough, but have you actually tried talking to her? I've seen girls across the school following you with their eyes. And you pick Luna Lovegood?"

"I haven't picked anyone," Ben assured her. "It's a very long story and I've got work to do."

"What work are you doing?" Zabini asked. "We've never seen you in any class. What are you doing every day?"

"This and that," Ben said vaguely.

The days of that second week blended into routine as Ben continued to learn spells in the morning with Hermione, and dueled in the afternoon. Professor Flitwick proved to be as challenging an opponent as Moody. Barred from using his lightsaber or the Force, Ben was able to dodge and throw a few spells back for perhaps ten minutes before the professor's skills overwhelmed him.

Nights were spent in meditation, pondering why everything seemed to feel wrong in his room.

By the time Friday arrived, he and Hermione had gone through the entire seven-year curriculum of Hogwarts. She sighed as they closed the books. "Well, I would never believe it," she said. "I finally meet someone as smart as me. He's cute, he's powerful, and has an eidetic memory. And I'm not available to seduce him," she said laughingly.

Ben flushed. "I've had enough of that, thank you. Now what?"

"Well, I've been watching you duel and I think we need to switch from just knowing spells, to how to really use them well. You have the knowledge in your head, but no real practical ability. I think you're past me, there. I'm reasonably powerful and I've had a few fights, but Defense was never my strongest area. I think it's about time to hand you off to the professors."

Ben accepted her judgment. In the two weeks of their training, he realized that she was truly one of the most intelligent people he had ever met. Her observations were pertinent and precise. Her wit was biting at times, but never cruel. She was, in general, a wonderful person. Despite the hideous scar on her face, she was also very attractive.

Even knowing she was taken, some part of Ben thought he should have been at least a little attracted to her. Instead, "How is Luna?"

Hermione shrugged. "We're getting a little worried."

"I've tried to talk to her," Ben said, "but she acts as if I don't exist."

"Actually, that's the way she normally acts," Hermione said. "She was very different around you, Ben. I know you've never seen this side of her, but for the last five years of school she drove everyone nuts, talking about Nargles and crumple-horned snorkacks and other beasties that never existed. Her father's paper was filled with just sheer idiocy that made no sense at all. And yet, and the same time, Lovegood's paper was the first to declare that Voldemort had returned, and ran articles that, in their own way, helped us get Fudge out of office."

She piled her own books into her bag. "I don't know what to tell you about Luna, Ben. I believe that, because you were new and different, she was going through a brief phase. But I think that phase is gone now. She's broken, and a good snogging isn't going to fix that."

With a sad look at Ben, she walked out of the room.

Ben stayed, playing with Hermione's words. Then he remembered how he found Luna in the astronomy tower, staring at the ghost of her dead mother. _I think I might be broken_, the girl whispered to him. At that moment, it was not the absent-minded or oblivious Luna everyone knew. It was the terrified girl behind the mask, pleading for help.

Instead, he just shoved her away and had Dumbledore put up wards.

The days blurred by faster. Ben's instruction during the following week switched in a rotation with the professors. Each had their strengths and weaknesses, but each also had some dueling ability. McGonagall was a talented witch, but was geared more toward defense than attack. Sirius was all about attack with almost no thought for defense. Flitwick provided a good balance of the two and proved to be the best of Ben's dueling instructors.

Still, by the time his third week at Hogwarts ended, Ben felt oddly empty. He knew more spells now that even most NEWT candidates, and was actually able to hold his own now against anyone but Flitwick and Moody using nothing but magic, but nothing seemed right.

He still wasn't sleeping very well. He took to meditating and sleeping on and off through the night as he desperately tried to get some rest. But his room seemed wrong. Everything seemed wrong, though neither his mind nor the Force could tell him why.

"Skywalker?"

Ben looked up from the book on dueling Flitwick had loaned to him to see Tracey Davis standing in front of him. She stood brimming with nervous anticipation. Her dark eyes almost burned with it.

For a brief moment, Ben wondered if he was about to get propositioned.

"We need to hold the Quidditch try outs."

Ben could not decide if he was more relieved or disappointed. Obsessed as he had been with Luna, the idea of an attractive witch asking him out seemed like a welcome relief. Quidditch, on the other hand, was something he never even considered.

"Okay," he said. "What do we do?"

"You're the captain, aren't you?"

"I've never played a day in my life," Ben said.

"Pucey won't do it, he's only a fifth year. Zabinin would rather buff his nails than actually play a sport. If not you, then who?"

Ben noticed that nearly the entire house was watching the conversation—all thirty of them. "Okay, but I can't promise I'm any good."

"The pitch is available this morning," Davis said again.

"Are you going to try out?"

She nodded so vigorously her hair popped out of the severe braid she wore it in.

"I guess we should go, then."

The whole House of Slytherin marched out to the quidditch pitch with the still powerful brooms bought years ago by Draco Malfoy's father when the then third-year became seeker. They had the quaffle, bludgers and even a snitch.

"I guess first things first," Ben said when they reached the pitch. "How do we make these brooms fly?"

The whole house groaned. "You mean you've never even flown?" Pucey said with large eyes.

"I've flown faster than light itself," Ben said a might defensively. "Just never on a broom."

While many of his classmates tried to figure out just what that meant, Greengrass blew a strand of hair from her face, ripped a broom from the hands of the sixth-year beside her, and threw it onto the grass at Ben's feet. "Hold out you dominant hand and say 'Up!'"

Ben did as instructed, and was surprised when the broom snapped into his palm. "Now mount the thing and push off," Daphne said, still in the tone of voice a teacher would use with a young child.

Ben mounted the broom and was surprised by the invisible cushion that quickly did away with his fear of splinters. He pushed off, and found himself floating a meter off the ground.

"You will the broom forward or to stop," Greengrass continued to explain as she also mounted a broom and rose easily to his level. He noted she wore black slacks for the occasion, rather than the skirt uniform she normally wore.

Ben leaned forward and willed himself to move. The broom responded immediately, and through the Force he could feel the power inherent in the magical device. "It's almost like a small swoop bike," he muttered to himself. He looked up at Daphne. "How fast can they go?"

"Fast enough," she said. "We'll have the fastest brooms. Problem is finding people to ride them."

He nodded once, and then willed himself to go fast. The sudden acceleration whipped Greengrass in a full circle as he burst into motion. He clung tight to the shaft of the broom as the wind whipped around him. Jedi reflexes took over and he soared between the elevated stands and flagpoles. He went as high as he could, skirting the clouds until breathing became troublesome, and then let himself freefall until just a hundred meters off the ground.

By the time he returned to his classmates, they were all staring. "What?" he said. "I told you I've flown before. Just not on a broom."

"Well," Adrian Pucey said, "no need to try out for seeker."

Each person in the class tried their hand, even some of the first years. The house was so small that it would take half their numbers to field a full team and a reserve. By the end of their first day on the pitch, they had the beginnings of a team.

Pucey and a fourth year named Matthew Giddings took the two beater positions, while Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and a third year boy almost as tall as Ben named Findigus Brent took the three chaser positions. Their keeper was a very large third year named Graham Pritchard. Ben made up the seventh member as seeker.

The tryouts also gave Ben a feel for the game and what it would require. Immediately following, his classmates also gave him something to think about. At least one of them did.

"The first Hogsmeade weekend is coming up Saturday," Tracey Davis said as they all trudged back toward the dungeons. "I couldn't help but notice you haven't been speaking with Lovegood lately. If you wanted to, you could take me."

For the second time since arriving at Hogwarts, Ben found himself looking at a beautiful young woman, and thinking of someone completely different. "Thank you, Tracey," Ben said carefully. "I'm no sure that would be a good idea, though. I suspect after what happened on my first day I have a rather large target painted on my back."

A barrage of emotions flashed across her face, from anger and rejection to understanding and even a little fear. "Oh, well, that's all right then. But what about Lovegood?"

"She's already a target, I suspect," Ben said.

Davis finally nodded, then sighed. "I am such a fool. It's your fault, you know. This 'kinder, gentler' thing you have going on. Things were much simpler when we all hated each other."

"You hated your classmates?"

"I was scared of them," Davis admitted. "Even admitting that was suicide—you couldn't admit you were afraid of them. And I hated it."

"You're admitting it to me."

"There's something about you I trust, I guess," she said at last. "Look, everyone can see the way you watch Lovegood. Yeah, she's looney, but you obviously have something for her. Maybe you should ask her."

Ben glanced around and noticed that the rest of the students had continued walking toward the castle while the two of them spoke. "It's kind of complicated."

Tracey shrugged. "Hogwarts is a big castle, but there aren't a lot of people filling it up. The rumors are going crazy. Right now the rumors say that Lovegood somehow snuck past the wards to your room, and that Dumbledore put a stop to it. Now Lovegood is heartbroken and you're confused over the whole issue. How close am I?"

She was frighteningly close. Ben shrugged. "Like I said, it's complicated."

"Do you like her?" The question escaped her lips before even she seemed aware of it. Just as quickly, she stammered, "I'm sorry. I have no right to ask."

They started walking again in silence.

That evening, Ben kept a sharp eye out for Luna. When she came, she once again sat at the Gryffindor table. He wolfed his dinner down and simply waited until she stood to leave. That time came quickly, and with a curt nod to his classmates Ben left the hall.

He never heard Davis lean over to Greengrass and say, "About damned time."

Luna moved surprisingly fast, but eventually Ben caught up with her near the library. "Hello," he said. She turned to face him, and he had to catch himself from sucking in an angry breath. "Luna, what's wrong?"

She was pale and terribly thin. Her silvery eyes had an unfocused look, and the dark smudges under her eyes spoke of many sleepless nights. However, her voice was just as dispassionate as before. "I'm sure there is nothing wrong," she said. "But I thank you for asking."

She turned to go, but this time Ben stopped her by taking her hand. As he did so, he noticed more of the cuts on her hands. She pulled against him, showing a hint of will for the first time since Dumbledore established the wards, but Ben did not let go.

Finally she stopped, and merely stood staring into space. "Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" he finally said into the awkward smile.

"Why ever would I want to do that?" Luna asked with just the hint of surprise.

"I miss you," Ben admitted.

Her head bowed down. He felt just the slightest ghost of pressure from her fingers.

"I wonder what it feels like to miss somebody," she whispered.

Slowly, Ben pulled. At first she resisted, but the resistance lasted only a second before she allowed herself to be pulled into a gentle hug. Ben could feel her shoulders shaking as he put an arm around them. He rested his chin on the top of her white-blonde hair. Instinctively, he immersed himself in a Jedi meditation, and felt as her shaking slowly subsided.

Finally, he stepped back. She was looking at him, an expression of surprise and wonder on her face. "Ben…"

"I would like you to come to Hogsmeade with me as my date," he said. "I…Tracey Davis just asked me to go with her, and the only person I could think of was you. I know this isn't what you want, Luna, but it's all I can give right now. Will you come with me?"

Very slowly, as if she were waking up, Luna nodded. "I will," she said.

Ben smiled in open relief. They stood there staring at each other for the longest time, seemingly frozen. His eyes absorbed every feature of her perfect face, dwelling at last on her lips. He wasn't even aware of drawing closer to her, until their lips touched tenderly.

It was a hesitant kiss; the kiss two complete novices would give to each other. In that moment, despite her racy talk, Ben knew for certain that she was as inexperienced as he was. And yet it was all the sweeter for it. They parted, and Luna still had that beautiful, surprised look on her face. "I do believe that was my first kiss," she finally said. "It tastes rather like sheppard's pie. That is your favorite, so that would make sense."

Ben did not try to hide his smile. "I'll freshen up more next time," he said. He looked down and saw he was still holding her hand, and the hand still had cuts on it. He closed her eyes and sent healing to her through their touch. When he opened his eyes, he saw hers were closed and she swayed lightly, caught up in the power.

Those silvery eyes popped open. "I'm hungry," she announced. "I hope they are still serving dinner. I shall see you tomorrow, I suppose," she added over her shoulder as she walked away.

Ben watched her go with a large, slightly goofy grin on his face. If his uncle Han had been there, he would have recognized the look as the same worn by his father upon returning from Nirauan, shortly before he married Ben's mother.

When he reached the Slytherin common room, he found Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass blocking his entrance just past the barbaric painting. "Well?" Tracey asked.

"Well what?"

"Did you ask Lovegood to Hogsmeade?" Greengrass demanded.

Ben stared at one face to another. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Just answer the question, Skywalker," Greengrass said.

"I…yes, I suppose I did."

"Did she say yes?"

"I…think so," Ben said. "She said she would see me tomorrow."

The two girls nodded. "Good," Greengrass said at last. Without a further word, the two witches turned and walked up the stairs toward their dormitories.

In their wake, Blaise Zabini shook his head. "I'd never thought to see a pair of Slytherin witches looking after a classmate like those two are looking after you." He eyes narrowed. "I don't know whether to be jealous, or thankful."


	12. The Kids Who Had an Almost Perfect Day

**Chapter Twelve: The Kids Who Had an Almost Perfect Day**

"Luna, are you okay?"

Luna opened her eyes and stared up into the concerned expression of her only friend. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Ginny blew a strand of long red hair from her face. "A few reasons. One, you were crying in your sleep. Not 'Oh I'm sad' crying, but like 'Oh my God something is eating my entrails' crying."

"That does sound rather unpleasant," Luna said.

"Two, your hands are bleeding."

Luna looked down and saw that indeed, her hands were bleeding. All the healing Ben gave her yesterday was all gone. Too bad. "I'm sure I don't know why."

"Does it hurt?"

"Why yes, yes it does."

"Did you sleep at all last night?"

"I did," Luna admitted. "More than I have for a long time. But then the Nargles came. They always do, you know, when Ben is not close by."

"Come on," Ginny said.

The two of them sat in the Gryffindor commons room, where Luna had essentially passed out last night after her roommates asked her to leave because of her nightmares. If the Gryffindors who passed her in the morning were surprised to find a Ravenclaw on their commons couch, they chose not to speak of it. It was not the first time Luna had mysteriously turned up on their couch. One time during her second year Ginny even found her in her bed, curled up next to her with a worried expression.

Unfortunately, when they reached the hospital wing, Madame Pomphrey once again refused to give her any more dreamless draught. "Child, this potion is addictive, and you've taken far more than anyone your age should."

Luna merely shrugged and left while Ginny huffed with impatience. She met Ben in the halls sometime after leaving the infirmary where he proposed their date. The following morning, as Ginny dragged her back to the hospital wing, Luna remembered the feeling of peace that enveloped her when Ben held her in his arms. "Ben asked me to go with him to Hogsmeade," she said.

Ginny blinked in surprise. "He did?"

"He even healed my hands. Kept the nargles away the entire day, and at least some of the night," Luna added.

"About time, stupid git. Did you say yes?"

"I'm not sure," Luna said. "I told him I would see him today, though, so I suppose that if I am at the carriages and see him, then we could go together."

Ginny grunted and shook her head in frustration. Finally they arrived. Madam Pomphrey looked up from her copy of the _Daily Prophet_ with a sigh. "For the last time, Miss Lovegood, I cannot give you any more dreamless draught."

"It's her hands," Ginny said. "She's been waking up with cuts every morning."

Pomphrey held out her hands for Luna and studied the cuts. "Every morning, you say?"

"It's the nargles," Luna confessed.

"I see," Pomphrey lied. "Well, the cuts are easily enough to fix." She quickly charmed the cuts closed. She looked up and studied Luna's lax expression. "Child, what am I going to do with you?"

"Ben's the only one who can keep the nargles away," Luna said. "Let me sleep with him, and everything will be fine."

Pomphrey's eyes grew wide. "What has that boy…"

"He's not done anything," Ginny said quickly.

"More's the pity," Luna muttered.

Ginny blew a strand of red hair from her eyes. "The Headmaster put up wards to keep Luna out of his room. They work. She's been like this ever since."

"Child, you have absolutely no business in any boy's room," Pomphrey said to Luna. "I will not be a party to you or any young witch engaging in such activity."

"I would think not," Luna said, as if offended. "Thank you for helping. Have a good day."

She walked out of the room leaving Ginny and Pomphrey staring at each other in confusion. "That girl is bound to drive the best of us mad," the mediwitch said.

"You have no idea," Ginny said.

Luna meanwhile meandered down to the Great hall for a bite of breakfast. She sat at her own table, which was largely empty, and ate a slice of toast with a little smidge of plum jam. She then took a stack of toast, left the great hall and the castle proper, and went down to the lake.

The pier was empty as Luna walked out, and in the minute it took to reach the end and sit down, a large tentacle had risen from the water in ghostly silence. "Hello, Godric. How are you today? Would you like a slice of toast?"

The tentacle waved at her, and with surprising gentleness took the toast from her hand and disappeared into the water. She sat there in the complete silence of an early Sunday morning and fed toast to a giant squid that lived in the lake.

Although she was not specifically looking in any given direction, she saw with her silver-grey eyes the progress of a figure made puny by distance, as it ran around the lake. She knew enough about such things to know this figure was moving much faster than a person should normally be able to move. When he got a little closer she finally turned more of her attention to the runner and saw how he would occasionally jump over obstacles, such as logs, rocks and occasionally boulders the size of small houses. He quite often flipped in mid-jump and always landed on his feet without missing a step.

It was graceful, this boy's movements, almost like a dance. "I wonder if he dances too?" Luna whispered aloud. She enjoyed dancing herself. Music was entirely unnecessary, of course, as were established steps. She simply enjoyed letting her body move as it willed, free of conscious thought.

The boy was getting closer to the pier now. She saw without surprise that the boy happened to share Ben's face. He was breathing deeply, but not with any distress. He wore a pair of gray sweats and a simple T-shirt that clung to his lean, muscular frame. His ensemble was completed by a pair of trainers they picked up for him in Diagon alley from a merchant who specialized in muggle clothing.

When he looked at her, everything stilled around her. The morning breeze faltered. The birds stopped their chirping. The insects stopped buzzing. Everything went away except for the brilliant blue of his eyes.

"Luna, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Luna said. "I was feeding Godric."

"Who?"

A massive tentacle reared up behind her from the water. Ben jumped back with a hand to the light sword he always carried.

"He's the giant squid that lives in the lake," Luna explained. "He's actually the immortal animagus form of Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of the castle. He likes toast."

Ben eyed the tentacle wearily. "Looks rather dangerous."

"Oh posh, he's a darling." She stood and reached out over the water to caress the tentacle, which was easily wider around than she was. "Have a good day, Godric. I shall see you soon."

The tentacle waved good-bye and disappeared into the water. Luna turned and studied Ben. "Well, it is tomorrow, and I have seen you," she said.

Ben's jaw dropped. "I…does that mean you don't want to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

Staring at him now, Luna couldn't help but giggle. She felt girlish, really. It was quite delightful how looking at him could make her feel, when he wasn't being a git. "Sadly, I've not had any other offers, so I suppose I'll have to make do with you. But Ben, do you have any money to treat me to a day in Hogsmeade?"

He stammered again before looking down at his feet. "Actually, come to think of it, no. Dumbledore said my tuition, room and board were coming from a scholarship fund. I'd hate to ask for money for personal spending."

She nodded wisely and walked toward him until she stood before him. "If I give you some money, would you buy me a gift?"

"Wouldn't that be like buying yourself a gift?"

"It's about the intent, Ben. I have no desire to buy myself a gift. But it might be pleasant to receive one."

Ben laughed and shook his head. "You confuse me to no end," he said as the two started a slow walk back to Hogwarts. "I wish I knew why I can't get you out of my head."

"Because I'm Space Witch," Luna said softly. She spoke so softly, in fact, Ben did not hear as the two walked back to the castle.

Two hours later, all third years and above poured out of the castle for their first official outing to the oldest wizarding village in Britain. Several professors, including both Black and Flitwick, accompanied them. Luna celebrated the occasion by making a necklace of butterbeer caps.

Ginny met her before the great hall. "Hello Ginny," Luna said. She turned to Dean Thomas. "Hello, Dean. You smell like Ginny. If I kissed you, would you taste like Ginny too?"

Ginny's face flamed to an interesting shade of orange while Dean turned the color of an un-ripened plum. As she learned long ago, so very much could be learned with just a simple question.

"How about you?" Ginny finally asked. "Would you taste like Ben?"

"You could kiss me and find out, I suppose," Luna said. "But then you would have to kiss Ben for comparison, and I'm not sure Dean would approve. You did have your chance to kiss us both, you know."

Ginny was still blushing furiously. "Come on," she said, before Dean had a chance to delve more deeply into that particular statement. She took Luna's hand and led her out toward the waiting carriages with Dean a perplexed step behind.

They found Ben standing next to Susan Bones, both of whom were staring at the creatures pulling the carriages.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.

"They're staring at the thestrals, of course," Luna said. She stepped past both of them to run a hand down the strong neck of one of the beautiful animals.

"I've been going to school year for seven years," Susan said. "I've never known what pulled the carriages. I've never seen them before."

"Only a person who has seen death can see them," Luna explained as she scratched a large mare behind the ears. "I've been helping Hagrid feed them since I started."

At this admission of her unique experiences with death, the others exchanged a long glance. Finally, Susan looked around until she found her companion. "Neville, are you going to give me a hand up or shall I step on you?"

Beside her, the tall, lanky form of Neville Longbottom grinned and held her hand as Susan quite capably climbed into the carrier. He followed a moment later. Ron appeared out of nowhere with Lavender Brown right behind, and climbed in with them. Ginny and Dean filled the carriage.

Luna remained where she was, staring at the thestral. She was aware that she and Ben were the only ones still on the ground, but felt no hurry to move. The thestral was gentle and caring. She enjoyed it's simple, peaceful company. "Luna," Ben said softly.

She turned toward him, and Ben offered her his hand. "Are you ready?"

"Oh yes," she said as she took it lightly and let him help her into the carriage.

Surprisingly, no one else climbed into their large carriage, and when the line of carriages started moving, they rode in silence. They sat beside each other with perhaps a hand's width between them.

"You're not sleeping," Ben said.

"Nargles," Luna said in her absent tone of voice. She felt a trill of fear through her chest at the memory of the nargle attacks at night. The fear evaporated with Ben's next words.

"I haven't been sleeping very well either."

She sat perfectly still and stared down at her open-toed sandals as her heart thudded in her chest. Finally, she tilted her head and looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "You…" She paused and took a breath. "You miss me?" she whispered. It was almost a whimper of pain.

She heard his breath catch. He put an arm around her shoulder, and it felt like a wonderful down blanket to shield against the cold. He became a well of gravity that pulled her closer, until she snuggled up beside him like they did when she could still sneak in to his bed.

"I'm so sorry this is hurting you," he said. "I never meant to. Waking up next to you was so wonderful, and I…" He leaned his head against hers. "I knew I wouldn't be able to resist you, Luna. I wasn't trying to hurt you, I was trying to keep from doing something I knew was wrong."

It wasn't wrong. It was right. She was his, she knew it with every fiber of her being. She knew that he was there for her. But she also knew he wasn't ready. She reached a long, pale finger to his lips. They felt so warm to her skin. "Don't talk," she said. "Just hold me. Just keep the nargles away for a little while."

Around them, the morning mist finally burned away to leave a brilliant blue sky overhead. A bank of clouds sat far to the West, bringing the promise of harsher weather, but for now the day was perfect.

Everything looked verdant and alive in the rolling hills around the castle. Feeling safe for the first time in weeks, Luna enjoyed the dappled sunlight shining through the treetops and the steady pace of the thestrals as they pulled the carriages down the ancient, worn path that led to the wizarding village. In the safe embrace of his arms, Luna led the slow gait of the thestrals and the motion of the cart lull her into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Ben could feel the very moment she fell asleep in his arms. Her breathing slowed and her body took on an almost boneless quality as her obvious exhaustion caught up with her. He could almost hear Greengrass snickering about him having such an exciting date that his girlfriend fell asleep on him.

Girlfriend.

It was a common enough concept, not isolated just to Earth. He never actually had a girlfriend per se, though he did think very highly of Nelani Dinn. Before Jacen killed her, of course.

Luna stirred in her sleep. Her delicate brows furrowed together as if at a bad image. Ben squashed the thought of Nelani down, and almost immediately Luna's features softened back to the peacefulness of sleep. It was as if she could sense his thoughts.

Given her ability to eavesdrop onto the conversations he and his father had, it was not outside the realm of possibility.

The village of Hogsmeade itself stood as an ancient pile of houses on the top of a very large hill within sight of the castle. The views were spectacular, showing a beautiful, stern country that reminded Ben in many ways of Ossus.

The carriage came to a halt. Luna reached up in her sleep and rested a hand on his knee. His mind instantly brought up memories of the way her body seemed to conform to his whenever he woke to find her there. Just the simple act of her touching him caused an almost electric reaction.

"Luna," he spoke softly. "We're here."

She yawned, and sat up. "So we are," she said blearily. Then she leaned over and hugged him. "That was a delicious nap. Thank you."

"Er, you're welcome," Ben said. He did not move—her arms felt good, and frankly he did not want to end the contact. Evidently, neither did Luna, and the two merely sat on the carriage in an embrace while many of the other students climbed down.

It was Ginny who shattered the moment, of course. "Are you two coming?"

"Do we have to?" Luna asked without letting go.

"Well no, I suppose not," Ginny said. "But we were going to Honeydukes. They have plum ice cream there."

The wonderful hug ended. "Ice cream does make everything better," Luna said. Ben saw a twinkle in her eye, such as he had not seen since the wards around his room went up.

"I suppose if you loan me some money I could buy you some," Ben said.

Luna's eyes went wide. "Would you? That would be most appreciated."

The strange thing was, as far as he could tell either by direct observation or through the Force, she was being absolutely serious.

The village was a strange place. It was a mixture of strange, primitive dwellings made ancient by time, but strong by magic. It was unlike any place the Jedi had ever been. Yet there was a feeling of darkness underneath everything. Even here, in this tiny village so close to Hogwarts, the war had made itself felt.

Still, the natural exuberance of children won out over the reticence of hard experience. With a few galleons in his hands from Luna's purse, Ben let her drag him from store to store. He bought her plum ice cream in Honeydukes, and a pair of very nice, if frighteningly bright, pink socks at Gladrags to go with a new pair of boots, and finally they arrived at a rickety store with a wooden sign that announced _Madame Baublebrooks Baubles for Every Occasion_.

The two stepped in to the accompaniment of a little bell over the door. They were the only ones in the store. Around them, the whole store shone with jewelry of every description.

A wizened ball of a woman even shorter than Luna spilled out from a side door. "Well, 'allo, dearies!" the woman announced in a high, piping voice. "What can I do for…. What a minute!" She looked Luna in the face. "You must be the Lovegood girl!"

"I'm sure I am," she said.

"Knew you're parents I did," the old witch said. "Never understood what your mum saw in old Xenophilius. Had to have been something, though. Brilliant witch, Celene was. So, what are you looking for?"

"Ben is going to buy me a gift. Think you can sell me a thousand galleon ring worth only a hundred? I happen to have a thousand galleons on me."

The old witch smiled. "Tell you what, Dearie. I'll let you pay twice the normal price for anything you like."

"That would be lovely," Luna said. She turned to Ben. "What gift shall you get me?"

Ben stood as if stuck in a killing spell. He had never bought a gift for a girl before. For his mother, certainly, but never for a girl. With a desperate glance at the old witch, Ben started looking over the jewelry.

He didn't know if it was the ghost of Mara Jade directing him or just the Force, but his eyes finally latched onto not a ring, or a spectacular necklace, but on a pair of silver earrings inlaid with pale sapphires. It wasn't the most expensive set of jewelry, and nothing close to the thousand galleons Luna mentioned, but it just seemed right.

"Those," he said.

Madame Baublebrook nodded approvingly. She pulled them out the case before Ben could see the final price and held them up to Luna's face.

"They match your eyes," Ben explained to her.

Luna took the proffered earrings and held them to her ears as she looked into the mirror. She looked back at Ben with an expression of surprise. "They're beautiful," she said, a little breathless. "I've never had anyone buy my anything beautiful before. Not since Mum died."

"Oh Dearie, they're just perfect for you," Baublebrook said. "The young gentlemen has a good eye. That'll be forty galleons, then."

Luna handed the coins to Ben. He shrugged, embarrassed, and handed them over to the old witch, who eyed the whole exchange with a raised brow.

Luna ignored the expression as she slipped the earrings on. "I shall miss my turnip earrings," she said. "But these are so much more lovely."

"I just wish Gringotts accepted Alliance credits," Ben whispered.

"I'm sure you'll have more than enough opportunities to spend credits on me later," Luna said with absolute conviction.

Ben smiled. "Maybe."

"We must show these to Ginny, I suppose," Luna said. "She likes to show me any baubles she receives. I guess it is only fair for me to return the favor."

As they left, Ben looked back and noticed the price of the earrings they just purchased. They were not forty galleons, but actually eighty. Baublebrook caught his gaze, winked at him, and then disappeared into the back of the store.

The earrings sparkled with more than just physical beauty. They were charmed to match the eyes of whomever they belonged too. The fact they already matched Luna's silvery-gray eyes proved in her mind that they were always meant for her.

If she had given the decision to make Ben pick something for her conscious thought, she would have quickly realized it was a test. She instinctively loved him, but she was still learning things about him. She did indeed have her entire purse of a thousand galleons with her in an endless money pouch. She would have even paid that much if Ben had picked out something that cost that much.

Her heart thrilled with the fact that he did not even notice price tags. His eyes sought out something he thought was perfect for her. Not only did he try, but in choosing a set of earrings she truly did adore, he succeeded. Price to him was less important than her appreciation of the gift.

As they stepped out into the street, he looked back at her with a smile. She felt her heart thud in her chest. The smile was not the confident smile that Ben showed to his classmates. It was shy. Nervous even. But open too. She began to suspect that he was finally beginning to understand that he belonged to her. It was a large realization to know you belonged to another. Finding a soul mate was a large occasion, and many times difficult to recognize for someone who was only sixteen years old.

In the distance Luna could see Hermione and Sirius Black stepping out of the Three Broomsticks. They were not holding hands, since that would be highly inappropriate, but they walked so closely, and in such tune to each other's steps, that there was absolutely no doubt that they were meant for each other.

Closer, she saw Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown drinking butterbeer and eating chocolate frogs. Lavendar was laughing a tad shrilly, but Ron seemed rather proud of the attention. Poor boy. They were not made for each other, but he would enjoy the shagging until he realized it.

Suddenly Ginny was there with Dean Thomas a step behind. "Luna, what…are those sapphires?"

Luna tilted her head. "Do you like them? Ben bought them for me."

"With what?" Ginny asked.

"With my money, of course," Luna explained. "What did you think? Space wizards don't use galleons, you see, and Gringotts won't accept Space Wizard money. It's rather unfortunate, really."

"Space wizard?" Dean asked with a glance at Ben.

"Don't ask," Ginny said. "Well, Luna, they truly are beautiful." She gave a grudging look of respect to Ben. "Money or not, he has a good eye."

"Two of them, actually," Luna corrected. "I rather like them both."

Ginny grinned and beside her and Dean actually laughed.

Then two things happened, neither one of them good. First there was a staccato series of pops up and down the streets of the town, followed almost immediately by screams. Second, a flash of sickly purple light struck Dean Thomas in the face.

It is difficult to describe the extent to which human flesh can be violated. Luna was looking directly at Dean when the cutting spell smashed into the side of his head. She watched, mesmerized, as the spell ripped through his ear and cheek, collapsing the side of his skull and slicing through the bloody gray matter within. It all happened in a second, but to Luna's perception took hours.

Blood flew everywhere. She felt it splatter onto her face, hands and neck. Ginny turned, her face frozen in a grimace of horror. She still held Dean's hand when his brains splattered across her face as well. His body fell limply to the cobblestones of the street.

"Dean!" Ginny cried. Her voice cracked with agony.

Suddenly an arm was around Luna's waist, and a second later she felt herself pushed with unyielding strength into a nearby shop. Ginny was with her. She turned and saw Ben looking at the two girls with a blank expression. She noticed a spray of blood splattered across his cheek. "Stay here," he said. He spoke with a tone of utter command.

She saw his hands reach down to his belt. His right hand removed his lightsaber, while his left held his wand. "I'll be back," he said.

Suddenly Luna was filled with a terrible fear. "Ben, please don't go," she whispered.

"I am a Jedi," Ben said. "I cannot let innocent people suffer. Stay here."

She ran to a window, her wand in her hand, and watched as Ben sped out into the street. Without conscious thought, Luna followed. "Luna, don't go!" a desperate Ginny cried.

Luna paused, torn. She stood at the doorway instead, in sight of her friend, and watched the battle unfold. Around the town, students ran into nearby shops or for whatever cover they could find as the Death Eaters stood indiscriminately firing spells into the crowd. She saw some return spellfire, probably from the professors and Hermione, but there were so many Death Eaters.

Luna looked back to Ben and watched, her heart in her chest, as her knight charged toward the building with the nearest Death Eater. The man saw him coming and launched a sickly green spell at him. The young Jedi jumped easily clear of the spell and then pulled the Force. He flew faster than the man could follow and leaped into a fifteen yard jump that brought him over the roof of the building beside the stunned terrorist.

Luna watched as Ben lashed out with a Force-born kick to the man's head. Even from her position across the street she could see the silver mask shatter, and heard the faint pop of his neck snapping. His body went spinning off the top of the building to land in a broken bundle in the middle of the street.

The next building down, another Death Eater watched his comrade die and began launching a barrage of spells.

Ben flew off the roof while summoning a shield spell and let the impact of the enemy spells carry him over an alley until he landed next to the firing Death Eater.

"_Reducto_!" Ben said with his wand only centimeters from the startled Death Eater's face. The reductor curse obliterated both the mask and the face behind it and sent the lifeless body into the alley between the buildings.

The owner of the shop, and elderly wizard with a thin beard, stood beside Luna now and watched. "Who is that boy?" he asked in awe.

"That's my knight," Luna breathed. She felt her eyes misting with pride as he flew, spun, kicked and cut through the Death Eaters like nothing she could have imagined. This was so much more than what she saw him do at the Burrow. He fought with a perfect balance of his Force and magic, cutting with both spell and sword. It was extraordinary. It was beautiful in a sublime way.

The other Death Eaters started to group together as increasing numbers of their forces fell before the Jedi's onslaught. Luna watched as Ben had to switch more to defensive actions than attack. Suddenly large objects floated from nearby buildings and streets to fall into the middle of the Death Eater's ranks. Every time they scattered, Ben somehow disappeared, and appeared a moment later to cut a Death Eater down, before he disappeared again.

The tactic was effective and soon four more Death Eaters died. The obvious leader of the Death Eaters seemed frozen for a moment as a large wagon flew through the air at them again. The other dark wizards scattered and once more Ben disappeared.

"_Revelo hominum_!" the wizard shouted with a flourish of his wand.

Luna's breath stopped. She started running up the sidewalk past stunned and terrified spectators. She saw Ben ripped from the Force and thrown so hard against a wooden support beam that he sheared through it with a pained cry.

The wizard pulled off his mask. All around the town, spectators hissed in fear. Luna recognized the man, not just from his many pictures in the Daily Prophet, but more recently from the Burrow. This was none other than Severus Snape, Lord Voldemort's most trusted and most powerful lieutenant.

"_Sectesumpra_!" Snape growled with a sneer. The terrible cutting spell slammed into Ben's stomach like a muggle chainsaw. Luna could see the blood spray as the young man's reared back in a cry of pain.

When the spell faded, Ben did not move. His eyes were open and staring, but he did not move.

_Wake up, Mum._

Fear boiled in her. Ben was not supposed to die. He was supposed to make things better. He was her space wizard, she was his space witch. They were going to get married and have two sons and one grandson and travel the stars together. They were supposed to be happy together.

She was supposed to love him, and he was supposed to love her. Forever and always.

He sat unmoving as blood poured out of his stomach and chest, his eyes open.

Fear turned into something Luna had never felt before. She could not have named it, never having felt it before. Just as a blind man could not understand the color purple, she could not understand this foreign feeling with her. She only knew that it burned brightly and terribly.

She felt everything around her in that one instance. She felt her core boiling over with magic, threatening to burn her out. She felt power around her, as well. Not magic, per se. She felt life. She felt the innate power in the trees, and the birds, and of the young Jedi staring with open eyes staring at Snape. She felt his life there, felt it slipping away. Her knight was falling away from her.

She had to save him.

She grabbed the power around her—grabbed it with a fierceness and strength she never could have imagined she possessed—and poured that power into her already boiling magical core.

Snape turned to look at her while behind him the surviving Death Eaters, just ten out of an initial force of thirty, laughed at the sight of the thin blonde girl approaching. "Have a thing for the would-be-hero, girl?" Snape said with a cruel laugh. "Then I'll make sure you join him."

He raised his wand. "Avada-"

Luna raised her wand hand as the life force and her native magic blasted up through her body.

"Ke-"

With a voice made hoarse by power no human had ever wielded, Luna cried "_Incendio_!"

"-da-"

Fire like from the depths of hell itself exploded from her wand. It poured out like Fiendfyre, not billowing but shooting with vertical force. The fire struck the dark wizard just as he finished the last syllable of his spell. The power behind the killing curse never arrived, though. What emerged was a brief scream of agony before Severus Snape's carbon-scored body flew flaming across the street, through the middle of his stunned Death Eathers, and through the wall of a nearby building.

Pops sounded around them, followed by Mad-Eye Moody's roar for everyone to drop their wands. The surviving Death Eaters chose discretion over valor and immediately disapparated away. The aurors looked around the street and witnessed the scene of horror around them.

Luna ignored them and their warnings as she rushed up the street toward Ben. One of the aurors started to lean toward him. Luna did not even think as she grabbed the strange new energy she sensed, and with a flick of her wrist, sent the man tumbled away with a startled yelp.

Nearby Black and Hermione were running toward Ben as well, but Luna didn't care. "Ben!" she gasped as she arrived. His eyes were not moving. Then the retched smell hit her. His stomach was … She looked away. She could not look.

Hermione arrived and saw Ben before she paled the color of bone. "Oh my God!" she cried before she turned and nearly dove into Black's shoulder. Even the former Prisoner of Azkaban paled at the site.

"It would almost have been better had the bastards killed him outright," Black whispered.

"No!" Luna said. "No!" She screamed.

"Girl, come on, there's nothing to be done," Moody said. He did not speak harshly, nor did he reach for her. "Let him go."

"No!" Luna cried with her eyes closed. The wizards and witches gasped in surprise as they felt themselves pushed away by an invisible force. Luna crabbed Ben's intestines and pushed them back into his disemboweled stomach. The smell alone was shocking.

Luna ignored it all. "You are my Ben," she cried. "You will not die. I won't let you die!"

Her magical core still burned. She still harnessed the strange energy she felt all around her. She poured it through her hands until her fingers burned, all into his stomach.

"Merlin's beard," she heard someone whisper, but she didn't bother trying to figure out who. All she knew was the terrible heat pouring out of her fingers into the boy she loved.

The whole world narrowed down to the sensation of the fire in her hands, and the power in her chest. She willed his body to heal with every ounce of her being. She willed him to live. He was for her. She loved him; she would not let him die.

She had no perception of time passing, just the fire, the magic and the love. Eventually, though, she heard a voice. "Luna?"

The fired died. She looked down at her fingers and the skin beneath them—skin that was scarred, but intact. Then she looked up into two deep blue eyes that looked back at her. He blinked and smiled tiredly. "You're glowing," he whispered.

"I'm sure I am," she said. Her voice came out sounding strange, as if a heliopath had stolen her vocal chords. Without another word, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him so tight he saw spots. The only sign of his wound was a twirl-shaped series of scars on his otherwise whole and restored stomach. "It was almost a perfect day," she whispered sadly before she started crying into his shoulder.


	13. The Girl Who Dreamed a Dark Dream

**Chapter Thirteen: The Girl Who Dreamed A Dark Dream**

"Are you telling me he killed twenty Death Eaters by himself?" Moody said.

Black shrugged. "Watched him with my own eyes, Moody," the DADA professor said. "You've seen him in duels."

The village of Hogsmeade swarmed with aurors and ministry officials. Amelia Bones herself was there with her security detail, which made the village for that moment the safest place in wizarding England.

The object of their conversation sat quietly on the porch of a shop that sold magically charmed women's undergarments. Ben Skywalker did not move or talk. He was exhausted in a way he never felt before. Part of it was blood-loss. The healing Luna gave him did not restore his lost blood, it simply repaired the tissue damage.

The physical memory of the wounds still throbbed, but it was a dull, distant pain. And echo, or even a ghost, of what he went through.

Luna still clung to him. She had stopped crying, and was so still he could almost imagine her sleeping, except he felt her mind still active.

She had used the Force. Not just used it, but controlled it brilliantly and somehow routed it through her magical core.

Ben felt the two distinct powers himself. More than once during duels he too had tried to access the power of the Force to augment his fledgling magical core. Every time he tried, though, he encountered a barrier. It seemed as if his magical core was protecting itself from the outside power of the Force, and despite his best efforts he could not make the two work together.

He accepted it, and learned to use each of the powers in their own way. He made a point of learning to spell cast with his left hand to ensure his sword arm was available. It seemed the tactic was working too, until that one and only mistake.

"Told you not to do that, boy," a gruff voice said.

Ben moved his eyes without moving his head, and looked up to see Alastar Moody staring down at him. "You were doing a right good job of putting these bastards in their place, but I told you that disappearing trick didn't work. Why didn't you believe me?"

"They weren't as good as you," Ben said. He did not recognize his voice, and wondered at the effort it took to speak. Of course, he looked down at his bared stomach and realized it was because his diaphragm had been shredded apart and then magically put together again.

"At least one was," Moody countered. "Snape was one of Riddle's best. Vicious and powerful." The magical eye on the old auror's face spun to Luna. "Least he was. And you even took out Lucious Malfoy. That's two top lieutenants in one setting."

He took a step toward Luna. "I need to see your wand, Lovegood," Mad-Eye Moody said. "Fiendfyre may not be an unforgivable curse, but its dark enough to get us all in trouble."

Luna looked up and blinked at Moody as if she were sleeping. "I'm sure I did not sure fiendfyre," she said. "It was a simple fire spell."

"Fire spells don't char a man to a piece or charcoal. Your wand."

Luna reached up and removed it from behind her right ear. Moody took it and with his own wand passing over it muttered, "_Priori incatatum._"

He looked down at the tired couple in obvious surprise. "That it was. From what I've seen of old Snape, the damage and eye-witnesses, it sounded as if you summoned fiendfyre."

Ben nodded. "How many students were lost?"

"Two," Moody said darkly. He saw the blood splattered across Luna's face, already dried. "A seventh year boy and a seventh year girl. Both Gryffindors."

"Dean was the first," Luna whispered.

"The Brown girl was next," Moody said. "Everyone else was just hurt. Forty students injured, some so bad they had to go to St. Mungos."

Luna accepted her wand back, dipped it back into her hair, and then hid her face in Ben's chest again.

"Ginny and Ron were dating the two lost," Ben said weakly. "Where are they?"

"They're with their family," Black said as he joined the auror. "Arthur and Molly apparated in as soon as they heard about the attack." He knelt down before the two. Without hesitation the professor pulled a strand of hair from Luna's bloody face. "I've never seen power like that in anyone so young," he said to Luna. "I've seen Ben fight, but Luna, how did you summon that fire? How did you heal him? Not even Saint Mungo's could have saved him."

"She harnessed the Force," Ben whispered. He found the pain in his stomach such that speaking any louder hurt. "My father was right. She is going to be a powerful Jedi."

Luna looked up and with a smile so sad it even made Black's eyes water, she said, "I told you, Ben. I will be your Space Witch."

Ben placed his arm around her shoulders but did not say anything.

"I'll say this," Moody whispered. "A lot more kids would have been killed if not for you two."

Ben shook his head. "I don't think so. There's an old Corellian proverb—an eye for an eye."

Black nodded and rubbed a hand over his face. "He's right, Moody. This wasn't a terror strike, this was retribution. For Malfoy and Parkinson. They lost two—children of Voldemort's strongest supporters. Now we lost two. But they could never have counted for these two here. This cost them. Not just twenty of their most senior Death Eaters, but two of Voldemort's highest ranking Inner Circle. And to think Snape used to be one of us."

Ben stared. "He was one of you?"

"Bloody right," Moody said. "Right up until little Harry Potter died. Bastard disappeared a few years later to seek out the Dark Lord. You've got their attention now, boy. Time to kick your training into high gear."

Ben shook his head. "Luna too," he whispered.

Moody started to squawk, but Black stood up and grinned sadly. "After that display, you're probably right, Ben. But for now, we need to get you to Madame Pomphrey."

The last carriage from that morning sat empty, waiting for them. The two students, with Moody and Black by their sides, climbed aboard and started toward Hogwarts. On the horizon, the dark clouds that once seemed so far away now loomed close, threatening a drenching storm.

"Tonight is an exception," Madame Pomphrey said as she handed the vial of dreamless draught to Luna. "You have magical exhaustion and need to sleep." The haggard-looking mediwitch looked around the crowded hospital wing. "I would keep you here, but I just don't have the space."

"I'm sure I will be fine," Luna said as she accepted the vial. She looked down at the prone form of Ben Skywalker. She had never seen him look so pale and weak. Her eyes latched onto the gentle rise and fall of his chest with desperate need.

"He's going to be alright," Pomphrey said as she rested a gentle hand on the young girl's shoulder. "I don't know how you did it, but you saved his life, Miss Lovegood. You should be very proud. I personally have never seen such powerful healing. I've given him blood replenishers, but what he needs now is sleep. Just like you. Go to your room, Luna, and get some sleep."

Luna nodded absently and let the Ravenclaw prefect lead her away. She looked up into the pretty, sad features of Cho Chang. "Why, hello, Cho," she said absently.

Chang was a seventh year student like Hermione, and regarded as one of the better students. Like so many, she carried a shadow of sadness in her eyes. Her fiancé, Cedric Diggory, had died during Voldemort's return. It was speculated that Voldemort picked the most powerful and successful student of Diggory's class and used him to gain his new body.

"How did you do it, Luna?" Cho asked as she led the exhausted sixth-year into the beautifully appointed silver and blue Ravenclaw common room. "How did you heal him? I could see it from across the street. He should have died."

"He's my knight," Luna whispered. They were suddenly at her room. "I love him."

She sat down on the edge of the bed, listless. She looked up at her classmate. Cho stared down at her with a strange expression of sadness, confusion and even envy. "I don't know what I would do with Ben," Luna said. "I'm not sure I would wish to live without him."

"No more of that," Cho said. She leaned over and helped Luna remove her robes. As they fell away, Luna saw the blood on them. She looked down at her hands and saw the blood there, black and caking on her pale skin.

"This is Ben's blood," she whispered. "Dean's blood. So much blood. His eyes were open but he wasn't moving. Just like mum." She did not even realize she was shaking.

Cho was gone. Where did she go? Luna did not know. Around her, the nargles started gathering, eager for the blood that caked her hands. She backed against the head of her bed, crying for them to stay away.

Suddenly soft hands were on her. She looked up, surprised. "Professor Vector?"

The beautiful but aloof professor with silver hair sat on one side of the bed with Cho on the other. "I had to get help," Cho apologized. "I didn't know what else to do."

Vector nodded. "You did the right thing, Cho. Come on, Luna. Let's take a shower."

"Will Ben be there?" Luna asked absently. She was still shaking. "He wasn't moving. His eyes were open, but he wasn't moving." A small corner of her mind felt ashamed at the tremor of pain in her voice, but she could not help it.

"He's sleeping," Vector said. "He'll be fine. You can see him in the morning. Come now."

Luna's legs were not working right. She should have been surprised at how strong the arithmancy professor actually was. Two arms scooped her from the bed and with Cho by her side carried her to the sixth year showers.

The two women helped divest Luna of the rest of her blood stained clothes. They did not try to make her stand in the showers, but rather sat her down on a tiled bench and simply let the water pour over her. The reddened water pooled on the floor of the large stall before making its way to the drain.

Both Cho and Vector were soaked by the end, but neither cared. "She can't be left alone," Vector said as if Luna were not there.

Cho nodded. "Half the house is either in the hospital wing or St. Mungo's," Cho said. "So many…"

Vector nodded. "I know. Filius is at St. Mungo's now with your housemates. I know this is difficult, Cho. I'm glad you came to get me. For tonight at least, I would like you to sleep in Luna's room. I understand her classmates are in the hospital wing tonight. If anything happens, come get me. Now, let's get Miss Lovegood dried and in bed, shall we?"

Luna let the towels dry her body. She let the drying spell pull the water from her hair. She let Cho pull the comb through her locks. The older girl said nothing, she was simply crooning under her breath. It was soothing.

Finally, dressed in her sleeping shirt, Luna turned to the large, lustrous brown eyes and wrapped an arm around Cho. "Thank you," she said.

Cho smiled sadly. "You shouldn't thank me, Luna. I've been so mean to you over the years. I'm sorry."

"You're nice when I need you to be," Luna said simply.

She accepted the vial from Cho's hands and downed the dreamless draught in one swallow. Blackness came even before her head hit the pillow.

From the blackness, though, came the hiss and scraping of hard obsidian shells and large classes. A thousand voices hissed at her, "_Sectesumpra._"

Two blue eyes stared up at her. "Ben," she whispered.

He did not move as his bowels continued to spill over his legs. His face grew paler and paler. She reached out to his shoulder. "Wake up, Ben."

He simply stared. She looked up at her mother. "Mum, why won't Ben wake up?"

"Because he does not love you, dear," Mum said. Her eyes were open and did not blink. She looked so pale. "The same reason I did not wake. I did not love you. No one loves you. You are alone."

"Please don't say that, Mum!"

The nargles chattered eagerly. She felt their claws against her skin. "You will always be alone, Luna," her father said. "Anyone who tries to love you dies, so no one will ever love you. You are alone."

_Alone_, the nargles whispered. _Alone_.

Luna screamed.

Nearby, the sound shocked Cho out of her own nightmare-ridden sleep. She stumbled, her feet caught in the sheets of her borrowed bed. By the time she climbed back to her feet, she stared at a nightmare.

"Merlin's beard," she whispered. "Professor Vector!" She turned on her heel and ran for help.

Ben woke up with a half-articulated cry. The nightmare passed quickly from his mind, leaving him confused and exhausted. Around him, he saw the sleeping bodies of victims from the previous day's attack. Through the stained glass windows, he saw only darkness.

"Mr. Skywalker?" a tired voice said. "What are you doing awake? You took enough dreamless draught to sleep for at least two days."

He looked into the face of an exhausted Madame Pomphrey. "Where's Luna?"

"Don't worry about Miss Lovegood," Pomphrey said. "She's sleeping peacefully."

The whole castle reverberated with a loud boom. Several students stirred in their potion-induced sleep. "I don't think so," Ben whispered. "Something's wrong."

He climbed out of bed wearing only drawstring pajama bottoms. His other clothes had been irredeemable even by spell work. The air itself thrummed with magical tension and fear.

He felt his lightsaber at the mediwitch's desk. He summoned it with the Force as he ran out, ignoring Pomphrey's concerned call. The halls by the hospital wing were empty, but he could hear voices filtering down the many flights of stairs. He followed the sound until he came to an open stretch of floor in front of the Ravenclaw tower entrance filled with worried students.

A lone witch stood guard with her wand in the air. "Go back to your rooms!" Hermione's strained voice called. A moment later a ball of red light shot to the ceiling. "Now!"

The younger children started disbursing. The older students, at least those not injured at Hogsmeade, did not. Ben ignored them all as he pushed his way through. He ignored the startled expressions and the eyes that dipped down to the fan-shaped pattern of scars on his stomach. "What's happening?"

"You're supposed to be asleep," Hermione snapped. "I saw her pour a two-day dose of dreamless draught down your throat."

"Something is wrong," Ben said in dismissal. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," Hermione admitted. "It's not a Death Eater attack, though, so you should head back to the hospital wing."

Ben shook his head. "No, I need to go there. Something's wrong. It's Luna."

"Okay," Hermione shrugged. "Your exempt from curfew, but don't be surprised if you get yelled at."

"I can handle that," Ben said. He rushed up the rickety stairs to the entrance of the Ravenclaw dorms, which actually stood open. Inside, he saw one of the Ravenclaw prefects—Chang was her name, he thought—trying to maintain a semblance of control over those students that were not injured in the attack on Hogsmeade.

They were all terrified. He could taste it in the air and see it in their faces. Most were the first and second years—eleven and twelve year olds. The older kids simply looked shell-shocked. Many Ben knew were at Hogsmeade and bore scars, even if they were not visible.

One of the few seventh-years recognized him. "Skywalker, what are you doing here?" Padma Patil called.

The other students turned almost as one and stared at Ben. "I need to get up there," Ben answered.

"You can't go up there!" Padma Patil said.

Ben ignored her as he made his way around the group of students, but he soon realized it was not a matter of 'or else' but rather, 'not possible.' Three steps up, he heard a loud gong, a woman's voice snicker, "I don't think so," and then all the stairs swung into themselves, forming a steep, slick ramp that had absolutely no purchase, not even with bare skin.

Despite the tension and fear in the room, a few of the girls snickered at the sight of Ben sliding down on his bum. He clambered back up. He could not say why, but Ben knew for certain he HAD to get up there. With a glance back at the other students, he sank himself deeply into the Force. "I can do this," he whispered.

The snickers died as Ben's feet floated gently off the ground.

Ignoring the gasps of surprise behind him, Ben poured every ounce of his concentration on levitating up the steep staircase. Self-levitation was very difficult, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to do it for much longer, but at the very last he reached the floor where the cries and shouts were coming from.

He sank to the floor with a tired sigh. Using a Jedi replenishing technique, he let the Force fill his body with energy and ran down the well-appointed call until he reached a room at the very end. Inside was a nightmare made real.

Septima Vector, Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore stood with their wands out and alight with spells before a living wall of darkness that seemed to block off half the room. The wall had thousands of claws reaching out at the wizards, who seemed unable to disperse it despite their wide array of spells. The room was alive with magic and the Force.

It was Dumbledore who first spotted Ben's arrival.

"What are you doing here?" he said with urgency but without anger.

Black and Vector also turned. The arithmancy professor of house appeared stunned by his presence.

Ben shrugged. "The Force told me I had to be here." He took a step closer to the wall of darkness. "It's Luna, isn't it?"

Vector nodded. "It started just after midnight. We don't know what is happening. We gave her enough dreamless draught that she should not have awoken for a day. She was obviously in shock from the Hogsmeade attack. But we don't know what these creatures are."

"Nargles," Ben said. "I saw them once before. She was having a…she was looking at the ghost of her dead mother, and she made the nargles real with her magic."

Flitwick and Dumbledore exchanged a surprised glance. Vector, however, merely stared. "That's not possible."

Ben, however, could feel Luna in the midst of the darkness. Her terror and pain. Her loneliness and frustration. Her need.

"I know what to do," Ben finally said. Vector pulled away in surprise as Ben lit his lightsaber and stepped to the wall of monsters.

The nargles shied away from the azure glow of his blade, and by extension from him. Behind him, they closed back to form a solid barrier. He emerged from the darkness and saw a scene of chaos. Luna's bed was utterly destroyed, almost beyond recognition. She herself lay disheveled on the floor, her eyes closed and her back arched; her face was set in an expression of terrified agony. Black shadows flittered from the darkness around them to snap, tear and cut at her arms and legs, which were covered in blood.

"Luna!" Ben cried. He deactivated the lightsaber and dropped to his knees beside her. He reached down and lifted her into his lap. "I'm here!" He felt his eyes stinging in tears. "Never again. You'll be with me. Just don't do this."

Suddenly the wall roared around him with the chittering of a thousand angry cries amplified a million times over. The darkness collapsed on them. Ben felt hundreds of teeth, mandibles and claws tearing at his body. He shunted the pain aside as he covered Luna's body with his.

Holding her head in his hands, he said, "I'll make it better, Luna. I'll make it better."

One particularly large claw slashed up his back. He grimaced, but did not cry out. Then he remembered the astronomy tower. He needed light. He did not have his wand, though. His instincts were always to grab his saber instead.

He pulled the Force to him, raised a hand and cried out, "_Lumos maxima_!"

With the darkness around him and Luna's still form pressed to him, he desperately channeled the Force energy within his body. It struck the barrier between his magic and the Force with fervent desperation, again and again. He pounded at the barrier, as still more claws sliced his arms and legs. Blood trickled down his forehead.

He knew it could be done. Luna had done it. She had done it to save him. Now, looking down at this bloodied angel in his arms, he knew he could do no less. He had to save her.

"_Lumos maxima_!" he cried again.

The barrier shattered. Force energy flowed into the core of his magic, and flooded out through his hand. Light like the brilliance of the sun flooded the room. Outside the wall of darkness, Dumbledore, Vector and Sirius all threw their hands up and stumbled away from the terrible light.

The angry voices cried out in terror, and then it was over.

A terrible stillness filled the room. In the aftermath of Ben's spell, the room appeared dark. His eyes adjusted to the overhead lamp that somehow survived Luna's fit. He pulled her onto his lap and cradled her head against his shoulder.

"Ben?" she whispered. Her voice cracked weakly.

"It's me," he said, weeping in exhaustion and other emotions too complex for him to even name. "I sent the nargles away."

A slender, bloody arm reached around his neck, and then clasped on to him with desperate need. "You're eyes were open," she said. It came out as a desperate groan of pain. "You didn't love me and so you left. You left me alone. Please don't leave me again," she cried weakly. "Please."

Ben looked up at Dumbledore, and through own his tears, said, "I won't. We'll take the wards down. It'll be okay, Luna. We'll take the wards down."

"Indeed we will," Dumbledore said tiredly. The old wizard's shoulders slumped.

Luna's whole body shook with her crying. They turned almost into moans of pain as a lifetime of grief poured out.

"I think perhaps it is best if we take her to the hospital wing," Dumbledore said at last.

"Both of them," Sirius added. "Ben's bleeding more than she is."

With the aid of the Force, Ben pushed himself to his feet while keeping Luna cradled in her arms. "I'll take her," he said. "Just please, fix the stairs. I don't think I can levitate us both down."

The whole of Ravenclaw house watched as the strange Slytherin walked down the stairs, bleeding from dozens of cuts with even more horrendous scars on his stomach, with an equally bloodied Luna Lovegood cradled gently in his arms. Dumbledore, Vector and Sirius followed on Ben's heels. Somewhere in the back, one of the Ravenclaw girls sighed. Another wept.

As they emerged into the hall, more students had gathered despite Hermione's attempts at crowd control. They said nothing as Ben emerged flanked by the three professors, and took the girl toward to the hospital wing.


	14. The Boy Who Loved

**Chapter Fourteen: ****The Boy Who Loved**

"We don't have any more beds in the student room," Madame Pomphrey said as they entered. "We'll have to put her in the staff infirmary. This way."

They turned out from the main hospital wing room to a short side hall that led to a much smaller room with only four beds. Each bed had a full partition around it. The room already had an occupant: Filius Flitwick.

"What is happening here?" the diminutive Charms professor said as he sat up.

"Miss Lovegood has had a delayed reaction to the events of yesterday afternoon," Dumbledore said.

"Why is Skywalker carrying her?"

"He was instrumental in saving her from her reaction to the events of yesterday afternoon," Black said.

"So what happened?" Pomphrey said.

"I was hoping you could tell us, Poppy," Dumbledore said.

"Come here, young man," Pomphrey said. She pointed to a bed and Ben promptly sat down. "Place her on the bed, please."

"I doubt she'll let go," Ben said.

"It's all right, Poppy," Dumbledore said. "Let him hold her for now."

With a disapproving frown, the mediwitch ran her wand over both of them. "Cuts, bruises, some rather nasty. Some magical exhaustion from… My goodness, children, what were you doing?"

"She was having a nightmare," Ben explained.

"She was materializing her nightmare," Dumbledore said.

Pomphrey straightened. "What was that?"

From across the room, Flitwick's high-pitched voice said, "What was that?"

"Hush, Filius, and rest!" Pomphrey hissed at him.

The professor pouted and let himself back down onto his pillow, thought he kept his attention focused solely on the conversation across from him. They were spreading the story of him being in Saint Mungos to cover the fact the he, the former dueler, had in fact been the first cursed at Hogsmead when he tripped over an untied shoelace.

"She created a wall of creatures that not even the three of us could penetrate," Dumbledore said. "And she did so in her sleep."

"That's just unheard of," Pomphrey said.

"She summoned a flame spell so powerful it burned Snape into charcoal," Black explained. "Ben said it had to do with her harnessing his own style of magic in addition to hers. I've never seen such a display of raw power. It wasn't as refined as Dumbledore or Riddle, but in terms of sheer power it was right up there. Perhaps this is a new dimension of that power."

"It is said Merlin did it," Flitwick added in his high, squeaky voice. "It takes someone of untold magical power to do wandless materialization on that scale. She might just be the strongest witch alive."

"Filius, I said to hush!" Pomphrey said again. "You are never going to shed that curse on your ribs if you do not stop moving!" The mediwitch took a deep breath to steady herself before she returned to her examination. "Well, right now she's the most tired witch alive. Now Mr. Skywalker, I'm afraid you need to let her go so I can treat you both."

"I think it best if we treat ourselves," Ben said tiredly.

"What?" Pomphrey started sputtering.

"I'm going to sink us both into a healing trance," Ben said. "Nothing is life threatening. The cuts will be gone by morning. I think…" He looked over his shoulder and Luna's head at Professor Dumbledore. "I think my father must have sensed this all. I need to treat her as I would a Jedi, Headmaster. Your magic might heal the cuts, but it won't solve the problem."

"Headmaster," Pomphrey said, "I do not think this is the…"

"Poppy, Ben is not from this world."

"Being Muggle-born does not…."

"He's from another planet, you harridan!" Sirius snapped. "He has his own type of magic and he's going to use it."

"How dare you…."

Ben had already dismissed the conversation. Gently, he sank back onto the cot with Luna in his arms. "I'm here," he whispered into her ear. "You're with me. Come with me now."

Her mind was raw with emotion. He shied away from it at first, but realized he could not afford to do that. So, he sank himself into her psyche, and pulled her with him deep, deep into a healing trance.

In outside world, Dumbledore cut off the argument between Black and Pomphrey. "Poppy, look at them!"

"Well I…what…" She leaned forward and passed her wand over the entwined couple.

Flitwick sat up with a grimace. "What? What is happening? I can't see."

Pomphrey, Dumbledore, Black and Vector all turned to the charms professor and said, "Lay back down!"

With a sullen harrumph, Flitwick did just that.

"I'm not sensing any healing spells at all," Pomphrey said a moment later. "But their cuts are closing up."

"It's his own magic," Dumbledore said. He reached down, took the sheets and blanket off a neighboring bed, and placed it over them. He then sat on the edge of the denuded bed and the mask of confidence he wore slipped.

"Albus?" Pomphrey asked in sudden concern.

"I'm simply tired, Poppy," he said. The headmaster turned to Sirius and, at last, Flitwick. "Has the boy made any progress?"

"Now you want to talk to me," Flitwick said. Then, because he could no more have held his silence than he could sit still while a student of his was in danger, he started talking. "Considering he's only been doing magic for just over a month and has learned the entire school curriculum, I'd say he's doing splendid," Flitwick said. "He can now regularly beat Auror Tonks in magical duels."

"And you saw what he did in Lovegood's room," Sirius added. "That wasn't one of his wandless tricks. That was magic. A wandless light spell brighter than any I've seen."

"A good companion power-wise to our confused little witch," Dumbledore said with a sigh.

Vector flicked a long lock of white-blonde hair over her shoulder. "I don't understand, Headmaster. What is happening here? Is Skywalker truly not from this world?"

"You've asked to be kept out of Order business, Septima," Dumbledore said. "For your own protection."

The beautiful face of the arithmancy teacher darkened. "The bastards attacked my students. It's a little late to ask for neutrality."

"You're beautiful when your angry, Septima," Black said.

"And you are a dog in any mood," Vector snapped back. However, Black laughed and some of her dark expression faded. "So it's true?"

Dumbledore nodded. "It's true. He crashed down on the Lovegood property just a week before term. Miss Lovegood insists her magic summoned him, and evidently his own father agrees to the possibility. But the day after he landed he used his magic and his weapons to kill several death eaters, including those who killed Luna's father."

Just then Hermione arrived. "I've got the kids back in their rooms," she said. She looked down at the couple snuggled together with one raised brow. "How are they?"

"In a…what did he call it, Septima?" Sirius asked.

"A healing trance," Vector said.

Hermione shook her head as she moved to Black's side. "This is my fault. I warned him to stay away from her. I thought that pushing her away was the right thing for him to do."

"It was the right thing to do," Dumbledore said. "These just weren't the right people to do it." He eyed her and Sirius. "Just as preventing a student-teacher liaison is the right thing to do for all but present company."

"Get some rest, Albus," Pomphrey said. "The rest of you, get out. Now."

Sirius bristled, but Hermione tugged his arm and dragged him away. Vector followed.

Dumbledore lingered for a bit before he began pulling the partition up around the bed. A moment later, he began casting silencing and privacy charms on the partition.

"Albus, what are you doing?"

"I'm giving them privacy," the headmaster said.

"Are you suggesting that I leave a teenage couple alone, and in their bedclothes, with privacy wards?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"That girl is sixteen!"

"She is the nominal head of the Lovegood house and an emancipated minor," Dumbledore said. "More than that, however, is that she needs him. He knew she was in trouble from across the castle, Poppy. He said he had to be there. And he braved a nightmare even I feared to enter, all for her." He turned to Flitwick. "And you, Filius, saw what she did to save him. I made the mistake of forcing them apart, and look what happened. I may make mistakes, Poppy, but I try never to make the same ones twice. Please, leave them be."

"I agree," Flitwick finally said. To Dumbledore, he said, "I'll watch over them."

"I know you will, Filius," the headmaster said. There was a faint, but discernable twinkle in his eyes.

Pomphrey harrumphed loudly but said nothing else as she stomped out of the room. Walking with a tired gait, Dumbledore completed the wards and followed after.

"This is quite lovely," Luna said. She looked up at him and smiled. "Will you sit with me?"

Ben sat down beside her and stared out over the endless city of Coruscant. He should have been scared of the height—they were sitting on the furthest edge of the highest spire of the Jedi Temple on the capital planet. Lines of air traffic stretched in controlled chaos for as far as he could see, while occasionally large ships dipped down through the clouds that dotted the afternoon sky.

"This is where I lived much of my life," Ben said. "Even after a few years on Ossus, it's hard to think of the Academy there as home."

Luna took his hand in hers and kicked her feet. "You've seen such incredible things," she mused aloud. "How foolish we wizards must seem to you. How small."

He looked at her deeply. This wasn't the Luna of Hogwarts. This wasn't the scared little girl. This, he realized, was a vision of who Luna should have been. Could still be, perhaps. "Not small," he said. "Magical."

She smiled shyly at him, leaned over and kissed him. His breath caught in his throat as their lips gently brushed against each other. "Show me more," she said.

Somehow, knowing they were still deep within the healing trance, Ben showed her everything. He opened himself to her in a way he would never have imagined. He showed her his friend Gorog, and how his mother had to kill the Killik to keep it from drawing an eight-year-old Ben into the Dark Nest.

He let Luna hold his hand while they watched Jacen Solo accept Ben as an apprentice. How Ben grew to love and admire his cousin.

She stood with him amidst all the Jedi in the galaxy as his father called the Conclave. "He's very handsome," she whispered to Ben. "Just like you."

Then there was Nelani Dinn. Her hair was black, but her face was not so very different than Luna's. Ben knew that the witch could feel the affection he held for this young Jedi. She watched through a combination of Ben's restored memories and supposition as Nelani walked in on Jacen and Lumiya. They watched, hand in hand, as Nelani did everything she could to save Jacen from The Dark lady Lumiya's twisting words.

"Nelani, I'm sorry," Jacen said to her. "You're a deflector that would send the future spinning into tragedy. And you're too young, too weak to understand it, to correct it."

Luna jumped and gripped Ben's hand even tighter as they watched his cousin, his master, and his friend, thrust a lightsaber into the chest of the first girl Ben had feelings for. Ben did not try to hide his grief.

Images began flitting by through the increasing tension that led to the Alliance Civil War.

They paused over the first two people Ben killed during a Galactic Alliance Guard raid. The look on Zekk's face when Ben wounded him with his lightsaber.

They spent some time viewing his mission to recover the Amulet of Kalara on Ziost. Of the voices of the Dark urging him to abandon the little girl, Kiara. To kill her. To consume her body for his own nourishment.

He lingered over his assassination of the Confederation leader Dur Gejjen. His shame and anguish over his actions washed through his mind. The whole time, though, Luna never once let go of his hand.

Everything stopped on Kavan: the whisper of Mara Jade Skywalker's Force presence in Ben's mind; the way her body looked when he arrived. The utter deafening silence of the tunnel; the stillness of a body that had never been still. He wanted her to be asleep. He wanted her to take up. _Wake up, Mum_.

He was crying. Beside him, Luna wept as well. Holding hands was not enough, and he pulled her to him as the two wept. "I've done terrible things," Ben whispered as he clung to her.

"And yet you survived," Luna said. "You've chosen the light. The darkness wanted you, and you refused it. You are a good man, Ben Skywalker. And I love you."

Ben pulled her back and stared. She stared right back. The confusion was gone. The seeming absent-mindedness and disconnection that had marked all their interaction since he met her, was gone. She stood there in the midst of this vision as clear and vibrant as anyone he had ever known, shining with Force power and magic.

"You really do," Ben said, stunned.

"I do. I was so afraid I lost you. I am not a Jedi, but I know the Headmaster was wrong. You are not here for Voldemort. You are here for me. We were meant to be together. You were meant to heal me." She reached a hand up to his cheek, and the warmth from her touch filled his whole being. "And I am meant to heal you."

Had it only been a month since he met this strange creature? Yet when he looked at her, she felt right. The smell of her permeated his senses. The sight of her calmed his heart. "I don't understand how," he said. "There's no such thing as love at first sight."

Luna smiled and then laughed. The sound was brilliant, like temple bells announcing a holiday. "Ben, it wasn't love at first sight. We've always loved each other, we just didn't know until we met. Because you do love me, don't you?" The last was not just a question, it was a plea. Her whole body pleaded with him as she looked deep in her eyes.

Ben stammered, caught in the expression on his face. "Yes," he finally admitted. "I think I do."

They no longer stood in a tunnel on Kavan. They were not on Coruscant or Ossus. They were on a bed, in a room off the main wing of a castle on a planet that, a month earlier, Ben had never heard of. He became aware of his body. He felt dirty with dried blood, but the pain was gone.

The iron-tinted smell of the blood was accompanied by something else. The smell of plums. Ben greedily sniffed the familiar scent and opened his eyes.

Luna's nose was close enough to almost touch his own. Her silver-gray eyes stared into his deep blue ones. Her face was smeared with dried blood too, but all her own cuts were gone. A single strand of blonde hair hung down over her face.

Ben reached up and gently pulled the strand back behind her ear.

"Say it," she said. Her voice was hoarse, more human than the pure sound of their shared vision. The healing had not aided her raw vocal chords. "I need you to say it for me."

He understood. He leaned forward until the tips of their noses met. "I love you."

Her eyes glistened. "I should never have pushed you away like that, Luna," Ben continued. "I didn't realize. I'm sorry."

The glistening of her eyes materialized as one crystal tear ran down the side of her nose, then dripped off the tip onto the pillow they shared. "I know I'm not right," Luna said. "I know I don't work like everyone else. I scare people away. Especially the boys. I don't know how to be right."

Ben felt his own eyes watering. "Be who you are, then," he said. "I should have accepted you for that. I do now. I love you."

Her chest hiccupped. "I love you too," she said. "Come with me."

"Where?"

"To your room."

Unsure of how, but trusting her nonetheless, Ben let himself fall into her eyes as her arms wrapped around him. Their power, Magical and Force, merged together, and he felt her fold the space around them. He hid his shock as Luna did something—if Jacen and his Father were to be believed—that only the strongest Fallannasi adepts could do.

In the blink of an eye, they were in his bed. Luna sat up and stared down at him as she pulled her bloody and smeared sleeping shirt off. She climbed off the bed and stood before him, glorious and beautiful and completely nude. "Come with me," she whispered. Her eyes sparkled with promise. With need.

Ben, his throat dry, complied. Her hands made quick work of his own tattered sleeping pants. She took his hand then and led him into the lounge area between the rooms.

Ben had a level all too himself. With only thirty students in a house designed for a hundred, large parts of the dungeons were empty. Because of his special circumstances, Dumbledore gave Ben his own living space that included his own bathroom.

Luna led him to it now. The large tub had a shower nozzle above it that came on with a flick of her hand, and Ben realized he could not tell whether it was the Force or magic she used. She stepped into the tub and pulled him after her. She looked up at him, glowing with a beauty that stole his breath. "Wash me, Ben," she said.

He did as he was told, marveling at the smooth feel of her skin and the beautiful mystery of her body. He used a washcloth and soap to gently clean the caked blood from her skin. All sign of their evening travails were gone. There were no scars, no scratches. She was beautiful and perfect. She was…his.

"I am yours," she said, catching his thought. She took the cloth from his hand and washed his own body. He stood as still as a statute as she coaxed the blood off. He felt her hands on his new scars, tracing each one with her fingers. And then her lips. When both were clean and the water no longer ran red, she used her toe and closed the drain. The large tub began to fill.

She dropped the cloth, reached two long arms around his neck, and pulled their bodies together. Hesitantly at first, Ben put his hands on her back. The feel of her breasts pressing against him made him shiver with excitement. His hands began to explore, however tentatively. He traced the smooth, gentle curve of her spine until it ran down to the wonderfully round swell of her buttocks. "I want you to touch me," Luna said. "No more fear, Ben. I belong with you."

She followed her own advice, and it took almost all of his training for them to sit down in the tub rather than fall. The water continued to rain down on them as their lips sought each other. As their hands learned the feel of each other's body. He gasped when she reached down, and sighed as she guided him inside of her body. He realized with a sense of shock that she was on top of him; that her lips attached to his; and their bodies were moving to an ancient and elemental rhythm. They were making love.

Her magic spilled into his mind, pure and powerful like nothing he had ever experienced. He opened himself to it, and shared his own. _What's happening?_

It was Luna's voice in his mind. Her breathing rushed in his ear as her lips brushed against his neck. Their bodies strained with mutual need.

_By the stars,_ Ben said silently, _I think we're Force bonding!_

_More than the Force!_ came Luna's exultant reply. _Magic as well. Magic and mind, body and soul, I give myself to you, Ben Skywalker!_

_Magic and mind, body and soul,_ Ben responded. He was caught up in the whorl of physical sensation of emotional power. _All of it, I give to you, Luna Lovegood._

It felt as if the whole world were bathed in a shower of purifying, healing fire. However, after a moment Ben realized the fire was real. A ball of fire had appeared beside the tub, and resolved itself as large bird with brilliant red plumage.

Luna looked as well, laughing with joy. The bird trilled a happy song that filled Ben's heart as well. The bird hopped up on the edge of the tub and spread both its wings as if in benediction. It sang to them, filling their souls.

With the strange bird as witness, Ben gave himself over completely to the wash of feelings running through him as Luna rocked on top of him. There were no words to describe it. It went beyond just physical sharing. As their magical and Force presences collided in a swirl of mystical energy, the whole castle felt it.

In the hospital wing, Flitwick say up with a gasp. "Poppy!"

Dumbledore came running through the door first, with Madam Pomphrey a step behind. The headmaster undid his charms and pulled the partition back to find the bed was empty.

"What does this mean?" Pomphrey said.

Dumbledore looked at her, and she suppressed a sigh of relief. The old twinkle, an expression she had not seen in thirteen years, was back. "It means, Pomphrey, that we may need to prepare a room for married students."

"What?"

Throughout the school that morning, students found themselves suddenly giddy. Some a wee bit puckish.

Some were outright randy.

For reasons no one could quite explain, Daphne Greengrass suddenly left a conversation in the great hall with her fellow Slytherins, walked across all four tables, grabbed Finnigan from his spot and pulled him into a kiss that made Professors McGonagall and Slughorn at the head table gape. "No more hiding," Daphne said when at last they came up for air. "If you're going to be my boyfriend, no more hiding!"

Finnigan stared deeply into her eyes for a moment before he turned and looked at his fellow Gryffindors. They stared back with a variety of expressions from shock to fear. With a firm voice, Seamus Finnigan said, "Mates, this is my girl, Daphne Greengrass. She's a Slytherin. And if I hear of one of you picking on her or any of her house, I'll hex you into next week."

The whole castle seemed affected by the strange magic in the air. The horrors of the weekend seemed to wash away before the flowing of the magic from Luna and Ben.

However, Hogwarts was not the only place affected by bonding. In the Ministry of Magic Census Department in far away London, the Wizarding Book of Records dinged to alert the clerk, one Marlina Fungrass (yes, she knew very well why muggleborns snickered when they heard her last name) to check a new entry. She read the line with creased brows.

"This is odd."

Her boss, one Dariana Chalmers, placed a hand on her shoulder. "What is it, dear?"

"An underage magical marriage," Marlina said. "The Lovegood girl. Didn't she just lose her father over the summer?"

Chalmers looked at the entry as well. "That's not the most interesting part. Who is Ben Skywalker? There is no birth register of a Ben Skywalker at all. I've never seen that name."

Marlina gasped. "Dariana, look at his place of birth."

The two witches stared for a very long time. Finally Marlina said, "_Errant Venture_? What's a Star Destroyer?"

"I think we need to talk to the Undersecretary," Dariana finally said. "Umbridge is going to want to see this."


	15. The Kids Who Got Married

**Chapter Fifteen: The Kids Who Got Married**

"I feel different," Luna said. Her head rested on Ben's chest, where her hand made little circles. They had retreated to his bed, and lay covered by nothing more than a sheet.

"I do too. I'm also confused. What was with the bird?"

Luna giggled and snuggled closer to him. "That was Fawkes, Professor Dumbledore's phoenix. The phoenixes are among the most magical of all creatures. They're songs are filled with love. I guess when we bonded he felt it and…they are attracted by intense feelings of love and loyalty."

He felt a swirl of emotions from her, and without need of words he understood. Still, he spoke for both their sakes: "You're not broken any more."

"Not any more," she breathed. Suddenly she startled to giggle. The giggle quickly escalated to a full-blown laugh. It was the sound of unadulterated joy and happiness. But the sound was nothing compared to the rush of her joy in his mind. "See," she said amidst her laughing. "A good shag really was all I needed!"

Ben remembered the conversation he had with Ginny and Hermione and joined her in the laughter. It was more than just the physical coupling, though. They had bonded through the Force; through their magic. He felt her as if he wore her skin. He could feel his own body under her hands, and knew she felt her body through his. _I love you_, he thought to her.

She responded to his thought as if it were her own, and leaned up to kiss him. _I love you too._

Then she smiled. "You know we're married now, right?"

"Might as well be," Ben said.

"No, silly. We're married. Magically. I vowed myself to you, and you vowed yourself to me. That's a magically binding oath."

Ben went perfectly still. "Married?"

"You didn't know, did you?" She propped herself up on her elbow and stared into her face. Slowly an expression of fear started to creep past the happiness in her eyes. "Ben, I thought…."

He felt her blossoming anguish. Fear of losing him. Fear of rejection. He pulled her face down until their lips met in a long, passionate kiss. Only when they parted for breath did he answer her. "I didn't know, Luna, but I'm not sure my knowing would have changed anything," he finally said. He looked at her. "I've never felt so at peace as I do at this moment. Nothing I've ever done in my life has ever felt so right."

They heard a knock at the door. "Dumbledore," Ben muttered. "Well, I was at peace."

Luna laughed and then kissed him. "We're married," she said. "That kind of contract is officially recorded. That makes us both adults. We can do this as often as we want."

"Good point."

He finally climbed out of bed and shrugged into a set of robes. He sensed Luna about to go to her own room, but stopped her with a hand to her shoulder. "Please don't go. I don't want to hide or be ashamed," he finally said. "You suffered because of us trying to do what others thought was the right thing. No more. Stay, please."

The look she sent to him made his knees weak with emotion. She smiled luminously and pulled on one of his shirts for the sake of modesty, before she climbed back in his bed and covered her legs with the sheets.

Moments later Ben opened the door. "Sorry to keep you waiting, sir."

Dumbledore nodded with a genial smile. The stairwell below him was empty. "If it is not a bad time, may I come in?"

"Please do."

Ben stepped aside and allowed the Headmaster to enter. With a touch of the Force he summoned a chair for the old wizard and then, closing the door, stepped around and sat on the bed next to Luna.

Dumbledore did not speak at first. Rather, he looked closely at Ben, then Luna, and then the two of them together. "Congratulations are in order, it seems," he finally said.

"You don't object?" Ben asked. He knew better than to ask how this old wizard knew.

"I find my perspectives have changed in the past few years," Dumbledore said. "But even if I had, I think Fawkes would have made me change my mind. He was quite excited and happy for the two of you, which is saying something to make a phoenix happy. However, I suspect Madame Pomphrey is put out with me, and Professor McGonagall is appalled. But to your question, I do not object."

"What about Professor Flitwick?" Luna asked quietly.

Dumbledore smiled, leaned over, and patted her hand. "He had his reservations at first. He has always cared a great deal about you, Luna, though he would never openly admit it. However, your bonding quite frankly… Let us say that he has come to appreciate your needs and is very happy for you both."

Ben had a sickening suspicion. Luna sensed it, and both blushed furiously. "Everyone in the castle felt it, didn't they?" he said.

"The castle. Hogsmeade. Possible much of Scotland," Dumbledore said. He chuckled, and then laughed aloud for a moment. "I do believe I have never seen more public displays of affection in the halls, with possibly one exception involving a young James Potter and a vat of love potion that was switched out with an evening's pumpkin juice. But that was chemically induced. What happened yesterday evening was…" He beamed at the two. "Well, it was simply magical. You did not influence anyone to do anything they did not wish to do already. Your bonding simply encouraged them to do it. I am proud to say that Daphne Greengrass and Seamus Finnigan are the first couple of Gryffindors and Slytherins to openly date in many years. After the horrors of that day, your love gave everyone hope."

"What do we do now?" Luna asked.

Dumbledore peered at her with a twinkle in his eye. "You both understand that by magical law, you are married?"

Luna and Ben nodded.

"Was that your intent?"

"It is the result of our intent," Luna said clearly, "if not the intent itself."

"An astute answer, Mrs. Skywalker."

The name startled them both. Dumbledore smiled. "I sense that the bonding has been most beneficial for you, Luna. Do you feel different?"

"He fixed me," Luna said simply.

"And you, Ben?"

Ben sighed and pulled his wife to his side. "I didn't even realize I was wounded until she healed the wound," he said.

"I sensed as much when I first met you," Dumbledore said. "I admit I did not envision this as the manner by which you overcame your past, but it certainly appears to have been more pleasant than the method I was thinking of." He stood. "Ordinarily, married students would live in their own section of the castle. However, given our current student population and the quarters available, you could easily stay here. I'm not sure how your fellow housemates would take having a Ravenclaw living in their midsts."

"I'm not a Ravenclaw anymore," Luna said.

Dumbledore blinked.

"When we bonded, it changed my house affiliation to Slytherin."

"Did it really?" Dumbledore looked confused. "It shouldn't have. We've had married students before. But then again, that was the most powerful bonding I've heard of in my hundred and fifty years. With magic, one never knows."

"I believe we'd like to stay here," Ben said. "My housemates need some happiness of their own. But I'll check with them to make sure there are no hard feelings."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. "Very well. I'll have the house elves allocate a larger bed for you and move Mrs. Skywalker's items to your room. Tell me, have you given any thought about your father?"

"Master Luke knew this was going to happen," Luna said happily. "I showed him."

"You showed him?" Ben asked, staring.

Luna beamed at him. "Yes, Silly. I told you I was going to be your Space witch." She looked at the two of them. "You mean I didn't mention that Lovegoods are seers?"

Luna's things arrived within minutes of Dumbledore's exit accompanied by a pair of Hogwarts house elves. True to her statement, all of her school robes now bore the Slytherin badge.

The two of them lingered in bed for a while, celebrating their new status as only newlyweds could, but eventually they ran against one force not even they could resist.

"I'm hungry," Luna announced. Her stomach confirmed that sentiment. "How long has it been since we've eaten?"

"A day at least."

"We should go eat."

"We should shower first, and then eat."

"I'll scrub your back if you scrub mine."

It took much longer to shower than it ordinarily would have, but eventually they managed to get clean and dressed. As they were leaving, Luna caught her reflection in a wall mirror by the door. Ben stepped behind her, and the two stared at their reflection for the longest time. Luna was petite. Ben, like his father, was not tall. Still, he stood a head taller than her.

"Am I beautiful?" Luna asked at last.

"More beautiful than even I realized," Ben said.

Her smile lit the room. "That was a very good answer, I'm sure." Her smile dimmed.

Ben immediately sensed why. The horror of Hogsmeade came back in a rush. Luna ducked her face in Ben's chest. "Suddenly I don't want to leave," she whispered.

She looked up at Ben with tears in her eyes. "I can see Ginny's face. I can see…"

Ben stopped her with a finger to her lips. "It's going to be okay," he said. "We can't hide forever. As much as we would like to."

With a final hug, they left the security of their room and made their way down the stairs, hand in hand. They slowed to a stop when they reached the last few steps. In the common room below them waited the entire Slytherin house. Actually, Ben noticed several faces missing, but not as many as some of the other houses.

Ben recited a quick Jedi calming meditation and stepped forward. Without preamble, he said, "I'd like you to meet my wife, Luna Skywalker."

"Merlin's left nut!" Zabinin said, breaking the silence. "You mean to tell me you two actually married?"

"By Merlin's right nut, surely we did," Luna said. She pointed to her badge. "Look, I'm a Slytherin now."

Daphne stood and took a step toward them. "That wasn't just a marriage bonding we felt yesterday," she said. "Matrimonial bonding ceremonies affect at most a few people at the wedding itself. What we felt yesterday affected the whole castle. That was no ordinary marriage bonding."

"It was for us," Ben answered, staring her in the face. "Luna is very powerful, Daphne. More powerful than even Professor Dumbledore realized. And you've seen that I have my own power."

"Are you staying here, then?" one of the younger students asked.

Ben looked around and opened himself to their minds. He did not feel any hostility. Blaise appeared to be burningly jealous, but of Luna or of or what he and Luna spent much of the previous day and some of that morning doing, Ben couldn't tell.

"That depends on you," he said finally. "I think this is a decision the whole house should make, and Luna and I will honor your wishes. If you want us to stay, we would be honored to. If you do not feel comfortable having a married couple in the house, we will move to a separate room. Professor Dumbledore offered us both options."

"What about Professor Slughorn?" Pucey asked.

"He is not here. This is a decision for my friends and housemates."

"Friends?" Greengrass asked.

"You are my friend," Ben said to her. "I won't claim to be yours—only you can decide that. But I accept you all as friends. That is more important than a housemate, truthfully."

"I think it's neat," a first year piped up. "Be like having our own mum and dad in the house!"

"If you call me mum I believe I shall have to hex you," Luna said with such an off-hand air the other students laughed.

"We'll vote, then," Daphne said. She turned and looked at her fellow Slytherins. "Who wants them to stay?"

Every first and second-year hand shot up. The third, four and fifth years followed only slightly less quick. The sixth and seventh years took their time to think about it, but there were only a handful of them. In the end, every hand was raised.

"Saves having to vote for the other," Daphne said. She slowly walked up to Ben, and shook his hand. "Greengrasses do not hug," she said.

"Skywalkers do," Luna said. Before Daphne could respond, she found herself wrapped in the smaller blonde girl's arms. "There," Luna said. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

The older Slytherins, indoctrinated into the old pattern of behavior, seemed a little startled by the display. But when Luna went to the younger students and started dispensing hugs, the rest of the house watched in bemusement as a line formed.

"Salazar Slytherin is rolling in his grave," Zabini said to Ben. "Slytherins giving hugs." He shuddered as a fourth year succumbed to a hug. "Now Childers just wanted to cop a feel."

"Don't all boys?" Ben asked.

"How does it feel being married?"

"It feels wizard."

"What?"

"I mean it feels brilliant."

"It's time for the breakfast," Daphne announced. "Classes have been cancelled for the first three days of the week, so we have today and Wednesday off as well."

Luna and Ben both blinked. "You mean today is Tuesday?" they asked in unison.

The others laughed. "Wow, they get married and lose all track of time. Don't you know how long you were up in your room?"

"All day Monday, evidently," Ben said. His stomach growled loudly. "I guess that explains a few things."

The group of them left the dungeons together as a house. Ben and Luna found themselves at the rear, holding hands as they walked through the halls. Somehow, everything looked brighter to them.

They reached the great hall, and froze at the door step.

Every student was already there—their fellow Slytherins had run ahead to be at the table. At the faculty table, every professor was present, including Flitwick. Dumbledore stood up with a flask in his hand. "Ladies and gentlemen, as you have almost all guessed, following the horrors of this last weekend, we were blessed with a magical marriage bonding Monday morning. May I present to you all Mr. and Mrs. Ben Skywalker."

Ben blinked and beside him, Luna's eyes glistened as every student there slowly stood and applauded. Many still bore signs of their fight, but many seats that would have been empty on Monday were filled again with healed and whole students.

From the Gryffindor table as Ginny Weasley whistled her approval. When Ben and Luna looked her way, they saw she was crying. Nor was she the only one.

The stunned couple walked down the steps and turned toward their table. As they did so, Ravenclaw girls jumped to their feet, led by Padma Patil and Cho Chang. They quickly wrapped Luna in hugs, while a few of the boys offered Ben congratulatory handshakes.

Eventually, they reached the table, but Dumbledore was not finished. Eventually, sensing he wished to speak, the students settled down. "I know there was some confusion as to the events leading up to the bonding, and I know some have questioned two sixth-years marrying. While I admit their age is unusual, I want everyone to know that this bonding was not performed on a whim, or for less than honorable purposes. It is my belief it was written in the stars that Luna Lovegood and Ben Skywalker be joined. Following the attack at Hogwarts, in which Miss Lovegood demonstrated overwhelming courage to save Mr. Skywalker, Ben Skywalker showed equally true, selfless courage to save her. He acted with the purest motivation—love. And it is because of this true, pure love he holds for her, and for the true, pure love that she holds for him, that I as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamut have certified and confirmed their bonding. My certification is a formality, of course, but one I grant gladly."

He looked across the students as more applause and cheering erupted. It died down as Dumbledore continued to stand patiently.

"This is a time of uncertainty. A time of fear. Many of us have been hurt. I have been hurt with you." Ben looked at his blackened hand. "I cannot tell you that everything will be fine. We are all of us caught up in a war none of us want, but which we cannot afford to ignore. Yet even in the darkest times, there can be moments of great happiness. And so when we are given a chance to witness something so wonderful as what we have seen and felt with our classmates, we must cherish these moments forever. We must celebrate them. Yet, we cannot ignore those who have fallen."

His eyes swept the four tables of Hogwarts. "This afternoon we will have a ceremony to honor Dean Thomas and Lavendar Brown, two Gryffindors who exemplified the qualities not only of their houses, but of Hogwarts itself. From death comes life. Tomorrow, we will hold a feast to celebrate the magical matrimony of Luna Lovegood and Ben Skywalker. I hope you will all join us here.

Another round of applause filled the hall while Ben and Luna held hands.

_Mystery Student Halts Death Eater Attack, __Takes Advantage of Vulnerable Orphan!_

_By Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet Special Correspondent_

_It was a momentous day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this past Tuesday. _

_The first event of note was the memorial service for the two students killed in the horrendous attack on Hogwarts students Sunday that so tragically ended the lives of young Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown, both only seventeen. Professor Albus Dumbledore called both exemplary students and beloved friends. Friends and family of the departed described each as unique and special, both of whom would be deeply missed._

_The day after this memorial came a celebration. Yes, dear readers, Professor Dumbledore planned a feast to celebrate the magical marriage of the Heroes of Hogsmeade just a day after the victims of Hogsmeade were remembered._

_Luna Cynthia Lovegood and Ben Skywalker were joined by magical bonding Monday morning, according to the __Ministry of Magic Census Department. Just hours later, the marriage was officially recognized and confirmed by Dumbledore himself as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. If you will remember, Skywalker single handedly killed twenty of the death eaters during the Hogsmeade attack, while Lovegood killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's most trusted lieutenant, Severus Snape. (See related article—Hogsmeade Horror.)_

_Lovegood, who is only sixteen, recently suffered the loss of her father. Years before she lost her mother. Friends described her as "Looney" and bizarre, and most recently she has been suffering hallucinations. However, she is the nominal head of the Lovegood family, which is registered as a First Family with a massive estate in both England and the continent. Her approximate worth is several million galleons._

_Concerned for the safety of a vulnerable and obviously unstable young witch, this correspondent began searching for Ben Skywalker's records. There are none. Calls to magical ministries around the world confirmed that there has never been a Ben Skywalker in Australia, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Spain, Asia, Bulgaria or the Americas. Further, according to Undersecretary Delores Umbridge, when the marriage was recorded in the _Book of Records_, Skywalker's place of birth was listed as _Errant Venture, Star Destroyer_. We are not sure if this is a place or not._

_Dumbledore, whose policies have long been criticized by the public and reviewed by the Hogwarts Board of Governors, certified the marriage personally as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, despite the fact both Skywalker and Lovegood are mere children, and in the face of overwhelming evidence that Lovegood was mentally incapacitated by more than just her minority._

_Given the events of this weekend, this correspondent cannot help but wonder—are our children safe with students like Skywalker allowed to run loose, and Headmasters like Dumbledore giving them free rein? But even more important than that—just who is Ben Skywalker, and where is he from?_

The Right Honorable Phillip Tanner, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party and Member of Parliament, sat drinking tea in his flat at Number 11 Downing Street. His wife Sherry was away with the kids that morning, and so the elected leader of Great Britain found himself with some cherished down time.

It was a common misconception among the larger world that Tanner lived at Number 10 Downing Street. However, because of his large family he opted for the more spacious flat next door to the famous building.

It was without any sense of guilt that Tanner cherished the absence of his family. He loved them dearly, but so too did he enjoy brief respites from them. Sadly, his respite was even briefer than he dreamed. Two loud cracks caused the Prime Minister to spill his tea, and a moment later he found himself staring up at two oddly dressed people standing in the middle of his study.

"Good morning, Prime Minister," the woman said. She wore heavy purple robes with an officious-looking minister's hat. "I am Minister of Magic Amelia Bones. I understand you asked to meet with me."

"Bloody hell," Tanner said. "So it's all real. I didn't believe it when Johnson told me."

Bones blinked. "You did not believe in magic, and yet you asked for a meeting?"

"I thought he was pulling my leg, honestly," Tanner said. "Are you really a witch, then?"

"Mr. Prime Minister, I am a very busy woman and I do not have time to play twenty questions. If you do not wish to meet, then I will be on my way…"

"Wait, please," Tanner said. "Look, the whole point of this was that my Home Secretary voiced a suspicion that you are sheltering someone we would very much like to talk to. Please, will you sit?"

Bones sat down, while the wizard with her remained standing. "How can I help?"

"Perhaps a month or so ago, our satellites tracked an object entering the Earth's atmosphere. It came in on a controlled heading and landed in Wales. It was obviously an artificially engineered craft of some kind with a passenger. However, the passenger was missing. We found footprints, but we could not follow them. We took satellite readings, but several patches of territory near the crash site were somehow obscured from our systems. That was when the Home Secretary mentioned the possibility of magic. So, I have to ask, do you have the passenger of the craft?"

"Do you know who ridiculous what you have just said sounds?"

"I'm speaking to the Minister for Magic," Tanner said. "That alone makes me question whether anything is unbelievable."

Bones adjusted her monocle. "If perchance we had this alien, what would you do with him?"

Tanner straightened. "Him? My God, you really do have the alien, don't you?"

Bones shrugged. "That remains to be determined. We have suspicions based on recent events. But much is happening in the wizarding world, and absolutely none of it is good. You see, Prime Minister, we are at war."

Ben stared at the words of the Daily Prophet Article even after he finished reading. It took effort to wrap his mind around what the article was saying.

The next morning found the dining hall just as quiet, until owls flooded the air and dropped copies of _The Daily Prophet_ among the students. Ben, who even after over three weeks was still unaccustomed to the mail carriers, did not realize at first why the students started muttering angrily. Beside him, Luna saw one of the papers nearby and merely sniffed.

However, Zabini grabbed the copy and read through it, before handing it to Ben with mute urging.

When he finished, the Jedi shook his head. "Why would anyone say things like that?"

"Skeeter is a journalistic harlot," Luna said dismissively. "She tried writing for us, but Father refused her services."

"What in Merlin's name is a star destroyer, Skywalker?"

Ben and Luna both looked up at Daphne Greengrass. Finnigan stood beside her, and several other students had gathered around them.

"It's where I was born," Ben said.

"What is it, though?" Finnigan said.

Just then Dumbledore arrived. "I'm sorry to interrupt what promises to be a most interesting conversation, but I'm afraid I must borrow the Skywalkers for the moment. Ben, Luna, if you will come with me?"

Feeling the stares on his back, Ben could not help but sigh in relief. He and Luna followed the headmaster in silence back to his office. Only when they were alone did Dumbledore sit and stop moving.

"Is this about the article, sir?" Ben asked.

"Sadly, it is," Dumbledore said. "The muggle Prime Minister has formally requested we turn you over to them."

Beside Ben, Luna sucked in a breath. "What?"

"Voldemort is not without supporters in the Wizengamot, nor is he powerless within the ministry itself. The article was quite right to say that your bonding was recorded. I never anticipated this, you see. I and the rest of the Order hoped to keep your origins a secret, Ben. But the Book of Records carries powerful enchantments that we cannot fool. Just like the sorting hat, the Book of Records can pull information directly from your magical signature."

"What is going to happen?" Luna asked.

"The Minister has already called for a full session of the Wizengamot. Additionally, since this could potentially affect other magical ministries, members of the International Confederation of Warlocks will be present as well. There will be a trial to determine the status of Mr. Skywalker's residency in Wizarding Britain."

"When?" Ben asked.

"In about five hours," Dumbledore said. "So naturally I expect we need to be there in twenty minutes. We will be leaving by floo."


	16. The Alien From Another Planet

**Chapter Sixteen: The Alien From Another Planet**

Thirty-eight years ago, a young man walked calmly into the den of his enemies. His hands were shackled and his weapons taken, and yet he controlled his fear, raised his chin, and walked into the bowels of the second Death Star to face not only his father, but the Galactic Emperor.

Ben saw during his sixteen years no less that forty-three holodrama interpretations of that day. Some were, according to his father, remarkably accurate. Some were wildly fictional. "No, Ben, the Emperor did not possess four arms and a third eye that shot lightning."

Some were numbingly perverse.

"No Ben, your mother was not there. And as far as I know she never appeared nude before the Emperor and his court. And really, son, do you honestly think she would engage in any activities like that movie described with a Gran? Although you could ask her, I suppose. If you were willing to risk bodily injury."

Ben never did ask that question of his mother. He suspected that particular holodrama of the story, owned in a locked case by his Uncle Han, was probably not one Mara Jade approved of. Naturally, Jacen made sure Ben saw it as soon as possible.

These random thoughts came to Ben as he stepped out of the fireplace and into the Ministry of Magic. It had a melodramatic quality to it, as if the architects were intentionally trying to cow newcomers just like the Emperor's throne room that Luke described to him. The fountain of the elf, centaur and wizards in the center of the atrium in no way relieved the dull oppressiveness of the place. Not even a beautiful young woman engaging in perverse acts with a Gran could have relieved the grimness of the place.

Perhaps sensing his thoughts, Luna took his hand. "Father said this whole place was controlled by heliopaths."

Behind them, Dumbledore snorted. "I wonder, sometimes."

The atrium and the adjoining halls of the ministry were bustling with witches and wizards, goblins and other sundry magical beings. Over their head paper airplanes soared magically through the air, holding memos routed to whatever department was deemed appropriate.

"This way," Dumbledore said.

"So what exactly will I be facing in there?" Ben asked.

"Senior Undersecretary Delores Umbridge let slip to one of her contacts in the Muggle government that you were an alien from another planet. She most likely found out from the Book of Records. I'm sure that is also how Miss Skeeter discovered your unique place of birth for her _Daily Prophet_ article. At this point, there is little point in denying your origins. And so we are going to argue for your status as a wizard so that you will not be turned over to the Muggle government."

Ben recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt standing near a large set of closed doors. The tall auror sagged with relief. "Thank Merlin! They've moved the time up again. Come on, we need to move!"

"When is it starting?" the headmaster asked.

"It started five minutes ago," Kingsly said as he led them toward another door down the hall. "They also moved the location. Your notifications have somehow been delayed, I'm sure."

"What, someone is trying to keep me from attending my own trial?" Ben asked.

"As I've explained," Dumbledore said, "Voldemort is not without his resources within the Wizengamot. This was the same tactic they used years ago to send Sirius Black to Azkaban without a trial. I learned a lesson that day—always arrive a minimum of five hours before any scheduled business. Let's move."

Shacklebolt remained outside as Ben, Luna and Dumbledore stepped inside. The room looked like the surgical theatres Master Cilghal sometimes used when demonstrating Jedi healing techniques on Ossus. Dozens of wizards and witches sat in a hemispherical set of rows, one on top of the other with steep steps rising between blocks. A podium rose from the center, behind which stood a stern looking woman with shoulder-length sandy-gray hair and a monocle. Her chin reminded him of Susan Bones.

Opposite the gathered members of the Wizengamot sat an array of wizards in everyday magical dress. Ben surmised from the various wizard cameras that these were the magical equivalent of holoshills.

The three of them emerged behind the press, some of whom were standing, and so at the moment were shielded from what was happening on the floor.

"Ben, I am going to be assuming my position with the Wizengamot," he said. "That means that I won't be able to speak for you. However, I will be able to guide the trial. Remember, the point isn't to try and keep your origin secret, but to ensure that you are allowed to stay within wizarding society until your father returns," Dumbledore whispered. He then turned his attention to the Wizengamot.

On the rounded floor before the Minister and the other wizards, Ben saw a rather squat, unpleasant-looking women in a ridiculous pink cardigan. She walked with prim, short steps back and forth between the witches and wizards. "The facts are incontrovertible," she was saying in a prim, overly enunciated voice. "Additionally, as can be seen from the absence of Mr. Skywalker, it should be clear that he holds the whole procedure in contempt. I therefore move for a ruling _en absentia_ revoking any residency status he may currently enjoy so that he may be turned over to the appropriate Muggle authorities."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. Senior Undersecretary Delores Umbridge turned around with a started expression, as did the assembled members of the wizengamot, and present media officials.

Almost immediately, every pair of eyes slid from Dumbeldore onto the young couple standing behind him, hand-in-hand.

"What might be construed as contempt could also be explained as your office's inability to notify Mr. Skywalker of your multiple changes of scheduling," Dumbledore said. "But be that as it may, we are here now." With that the aged professor walked passed Umbridge to the rows of wizards and witches. He climbed several narrow steps and stood next to the stern looking woman with a monocle.

"Minister Bones, if I may?" he asked.

The Minister For Magic nodded. "Of course, Chief Warlock." She vacated the spot for Dumbledore and assumed a seat next to the podium.

"I trust that Undersecretary Umbridge did not attempt to begin a voting session of the Wizengamot without the presence of the Chief Warlock," Dumbledore said in a sheathed voice. "Now, what business lay before us?"

Bones stood and adjusted her monocle. "Secretary Umbridge was explaining that I was recently contacted by the Muggle Prime Minister. He stated that an object not of this world entered our atmosphere approximately one month ago, and that the occupant of this non-terrestrial object disappeared into a warded home. After examining the records provided to us by the Muggle military, we have determined that the crash occurred just north of the Lovegood Estate."

The hall filled with the whisper of fabric as the eyes of the Wizengamot again turned to Luna Lovegood. She unconsciously squeezed Ben's hand, and he squeezed right back.

"Additionally," Bones continued, "this past Monday morning, the Book of Records recorded the magical marriage of Luna Lovegood and Ben Skywalker. The place of birth for Mr. Skywalker was not recognized as a valid location. We have searched our records and requested assistance from all Magical Ministries in the world and determined there is no Ben Skywalker on record anywhere in any magical community. The Muggle government performed a similar search with similar results.

"The purpose then of this session is to determine whether Ben Skywalker was born of this world; whether Ben Skywalker is a wizard; and accordingly whether he is protected under the ICW Secrecy Accords. If it is determined that he is not protected by the ICW Secrecy Accords, it will be the order of this body to turn Mr. Skywalker over to the Muggle government."

"Thank you, Madame Minister," Dumbledore said. He motioned toward a chair in the center of the space before the rows of the Wizengamot. "Mr. Skywalker, I must ask you to take a seat."

Ben stepped down and Luna naturally came with him. "This trial is for Mr. Skywalker only," Umbridge said from her position on the floor. "Please return to the stands, Miss Lovegood."

"Thank you, it is Mrs. Skywalker. Ben is my husband. I will stand with him."

"I'm afraid that is not possible…"

Luna's magic flared so brightly it brought Umbridge to silence. "I will stand by my husband," she said.

"And her husband will stand by her," Ben said resolutely.

"Perhaps then another chair is in order," Dumbledore said.

Umbridge cleared her throat. "Hem hem," she said in something between a croak and a cough. "Wizengamot rules are quite clear, Chief Warlock. Ms. Lovegood is not on trial and should be escorted from the floor, by force if necessary."

"Mr. Skywalker killed twenty death eaters single handedly, Madame Undersecretary. And Mrs. Skywalker personally killed Severus Snape with a flame spell so powerful the aurors mistook it for Fiendfyre. You are welcome to attempt to remove her, but I would not recommend it. Another chair, please."

Umbridge's face flared to a splotchy red, but she said nothing as a court clerk brought another chair. Finally Luna sat next to Ben and the two held hands.

"Madame Undersecretary, I understand you have been selected to present the case on behalf of the Muggle Government," Dumbledore said. "You may proceed."

She turned and walked primly toward Ben. The dainty steps looked laughable from such a large and unpleasant person. Her eyes flickered to the media behind them. "Mr. Skywalker, I congratulate you are your recent marriage. I understand Miss Lovegood is quite wealthy. She even had to give you money to purchase those earrings she is wearing. I also understand that she was hallucinating in the weeks leading up to your wedding and was even receiving medical treatment. So tell me, what made you wish to marry a mentally incompetent child? Was it her looks, or her money?"

Ben looked up at her and felt pure malice. She was not wearing a Dark Mark that he could sense, but she dripped darkness. He took a very deep breath to control the rage he felt. Beside him, Luna burned inside. He squeezed her hand. "What does this have to do with my status as a wizard?"

"Quite right, Mr. Skywalker," Dumbledore said. "Madame Umbridge, please restrain your line of questioning to pertinent issues. Mr. Skywalker's financial affairs are not in question."

"Of course," Umbridge said in a saccharine tone. "Mr. Skywalker, on the official record of your marriage, it states your birth place as Errant Venture, Star Destroyer. Can you describe for this court what that means?"

"I was born aboard a star destroyer named the _Errant Venture_," Ben said.

Umbridge made a show of clearing her throat. The sound was faintly amphibian. "Yes, of course. What, exactly, is a star destroyer?"

Ben took a deep breath. He looked at Dumbledore, who nodded. Finally, he said, "It is an intergalactic warship approximately sixteen hundred meters in length designed and built by the first Galactic Empire to suppress enemy activity on a planetary scale. The _Errant Venture_ was obtained and rechristened as a merchant ship by the father in law of one of my father's Jedi."

Other than the occasional flash of a camera bulb, or the scuff of a boot, the whole hall was absolutely silent. Even Umbridge seemed surprised by the answer. "Intergalactic?" she finally said. "Planetary?"

"Yes, planetary. In the event of activity the Emperor considered a threat, a single star destroyer has the destructive capability to either excise that activity from the face of the planet, or if necessary, reduce the entire surface of the planet to glass in the course of mere hours."

Umbridge's face went slack. "Surely you are joking?"

"You are the ones trying to confirm I am an alien from another planet," Ben Skywalker said in his most reasonable tone. "I make no attempt to deny that. I was born on board deep space vessel while my parents were in seclusion during an intergalactic war. After the war, I lived most of my life on the planet Coruscant, the capital of the former New Republic and now the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, which constitutes the major governing body for over 500 hundred trillion sentient beings on worlds across the greater galaxy. I am a member of a religious order dedicated to the preservation of peace and justice in the galaxy known as the Jedi Order. Until my ship was pulled here, I had never even heard of the planet Earth."

"So you admit it!" Umbridge recovered quickly with a victorious sneer. "You are an alien from another planet!"

"Why would I deny it?" Ben asked. He struck the perfect tone of curiosity and innocence.

"Well, that part was easy enough," Dumbledore said with chuckle. Several of his colleagues risked hesitant snickers as well. "Let the records show that Ben Skywalker, Jedi Knight, is not born of this world. I believe the second order of business was to determine if Mr. Skywalker was a wizard, correct?"

"How can he be a wizard?" Umbridge said. "He is an alien! He is not even human!"

"What makes you think that?" Ben asked. "I could argue I am actually as human as you are. Perhaps more so, if appearances are to be believed."

Several of the Wizengamot members and reporters laughed. Umbridge flared in rage. "Mr. Skywalker, please show respect for these proceedings," Dumbledore warned. The warning was diluted by his wink.

Umbridge settled quickly behind her façade of painful sweetness. "So you declare you are human, even though you are from another world?"

"Humans are one of the dominant species of the galaxy," Ben explained. "There are over three hundred billion humans on Coruscant alone."

The number staggered everyone in the audience.

"It could be that his usage of the word 'human' does not mean the same as ours," Umbridge began.

"If I may, Madame Undersecretary," Dumbledore said, "Madame Poppy Pomphrey, a licensed mediwitch, has examined Mr. Skywalker and determined that he is indeed entirely human. The question before this body is not his humanity, but his status as a wizard."

"Indeed," Umbridge said. She schooled her expression and resumed her saccharine voice. "So, Mr. Skywalker, before this body, do you claim to be a wizard?"

"It is difficult to make such a claim unless, as you pointed out, we are using the same definitions," Ben said. "Define exactly what you mean by a wizard."

"A human who is able to perform magic."

"Then yes, by that definition I am a wizard," Ben said.

"What other definition could you have used?"

"As a Jedi Knight, I am able to harness other powers we call the Force. This exists outside of my magical core. I was a Jedi before I became a wizard."

"Can you prove your abilities are magic, then, and not the Force?"

Ben shrugged, removed his wand, and said, "_Desrober_!"

The horrid pink cardian fled from Umbridge's stout body, along with the rest of her clothes. "I believe that was a magical spell, Ms. Umbridge?"

"Mr. Skywalker!" Minister Bones snapped, "that was entirely inappropriate."

Her words were drowned out by Umbridge's outraged screams and the open laughter from the press box behind them. Luna stood and transfigured a set of robes that settled over the older witch's shoulders.

"I sincerely apologize to this body," Ben said tightly. "Ms. Umbridge's earlier comments about my wife were highly offensive and I momentarily lost my temper. I'm sure my father will have words with me when we discuss my lapse."

"Another disgusting space muggle like you, I'd wager!" Umbridge sneered. She was shaking in rage.

It was Luna, however, who answered. "I felt Master Skywalker's mind," Luna said. She spoke in an offhand, almost dreamy sense. "He is so powerful he touched my mind from across the galaxy." She looked at Umbridge and smiled. "I think should the need arise, he could easily destroy you with a mere thought."

"Dad would never do that," Ben said. "Even when there's a real Dark Lord that needs killing, he'd bend over backwards to redeem them before he tried killing them." There was a note of real pain in his voice.

Luna turned, smiled sadly and took his hand.

"You're testimony is suspect, Ms. Lovegood, given your obvious mental condition," Umbridge said, still enraged.

For a very brief moment, the world went flat. Ben felt cold well up inside—the cold he felt the first time he took a life. Luna's hand squeezed his, and he looked over to see her silvery-grey eyes staring deeply into his. "The words of a flobberworm mean nothing," she said just loud enough to be heard. "I love you. You love me. What she thinks is meaningless."

"How dare…" Umbridge started, when the hall rang out with the rap of a gavel.

Dumbledore held no twinkle in his eye when he stared down the undersecretary. "Madame Umbridge, if you cannot hold your tongue and restrain your discourse to what is immediately pertinent to this case, I will find you in contempt and have you escorted from this assembly. Likewise, Mr. Skywalker. Your anger may be understandable, but you will purport yourself in a manner appropriate to these proceedings!"

"Yes, sir," Ben said.

"Very well," Umbridge said. She forced her face into a resemblance of a pleasant expression. "So, given your wife's past, why should this court believe anything she says?"

"I was in contact with my Father through the Force," Ben said. "Somehow, Luna was able to join our link. She did communicate directly with my father." He took a deep breath, trying to decide what to say. The Jedi did not brag. He had learned many lessons of pride, lessons his father tried to teach him. And yet they needed to understand.

"When my father was nineteen years old," Ben began, "he left the only world he had known with the last of the Jedi. He received perhaps a few hours of brief instruction—just enough to realize the Force existed—before traveling to an artificial moon with power enough to blast an entire planet to rubble in a second and more than a million Imperial personnel on board. From the depths of this station, he saved his sister from certain death. Just hours later, flying a ship he had never sat in, he personally used the Force to guide his hand, and fired the shots that destroyed the station. Four years later, after receiving only a few months of additional training, he faced two powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, Darth Vader, and his master Darth Sidious—the Emperor of the entire galaxy. When my father left, both were dead."

Ben knew the truth, of course, and so made sure not to speak any lies.

"Since that time," Ben said, "my father has bested Dark Jedi and Dark Lords. He has foiled coup attempts and saved millions of sentients from death or enslavement. He founded the New Jedi Order and has served and advised heads of state. Our magic may be different than yours, but do not make the mistake of ever thinking the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order is anything like a mere Muggle. And rest assured he is coming for me."

The whole audience fell quiet. Somewhere behind them the flash of a camera lit the room with a loud pop. "Is that a threat, Mr. Skywalker," Minister Bones finally asked.

"No," Ben said. "It is a promise he made to me. My father is a Jedi. We are of the Light. For all his power, he would never threaten the innocent. But he is coming."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I believe we can say the first two issues brought forth before this body have been resolved. Mr. Skywalker is not born of this world, and he has demonstrated wand magic, thus proving he is a wizard. The next and last item is whether he is protected under the ICW Secrecy Accords."

Umbridge seemed to have recovered sufficiently in her conjured robes to clear her throat. "I move that we treat this as a residency issue, if it pleases the court. I will concede that Mr. Skywalker is a wizard. However, he is not now, nor has he ever been, an English wizard. Nor is he a wizard from any recognized ministry anywhere else in the world. I can see no legitimate reason for him to remain among us, especially not if he presents a danger to us."

"He is my husband," Luna said clearly. "By right of Wizarding law and the ancient traditions of the First Families, that makes him an English Wizard and a member of the Lovegood house."

"An arrangement for money hardly makes for a legitimate marriage," Umbridge said. There was no snarl, this time. Rather an airy dismissal. She was back to her form.

"I believe as the member of this body who certified the marriage, perhaps it would be beneficial to all if I explain the circumstances of the marriage," Dumbledore said. He turned to Luna. "Miss Lovegood, I love you. With my heart and soul."

"I love you too, I'm sure," Luna said without missing a beat.

The witches and wizards in the room twittered at the odd exchange.

"Are we married?" Dumbledore asked.

"I do not believe so," Luna said. "Although that would certainly complicate intimate dinners for two. And we would need a much larger bed, I would think. We do, however, appear to share similar tastes in color."

The court laughed appreciatively.

"Madame Undersecretary," Dumbledore said, "this display was to make a specific point. Words are meaningless without informed consent and magical power. How many marriages are recorded directly by magic in the Book of Records each year, as opposed to those recorded by Wizengamot officials manually?"

Umbridge stuttered. "What does…."

"There are perhaps three to four true magical marriages every decade. The last was three years ago, I believe, in Kent," Dumbledore said. "Why are they so exceedingly rare? The answer, of course, is that a true magical marriage is a soul bond. It is a bonding of magic, mind, body and soul. It is a rare and wondrous thing.

"Luna Lovegood risked her very life to defend her fallen knight from an enemy older and more experienced than herself. What the papers have failed to disclose is that Mr. Skywalker was hit with a powerful curse from Severus Snape. Ladies and gentlemen, Ben was disemboweled. Senior Auror Alastar Moody stated Ben should have died. But Luna healed him employing a power I've never seen. That very evening, Ben recovered spontaneously from a dreamless drought and saved Luna from the magical backlash of her actions. He risked his own life for her without hesitation. In his own words, he _needed_ to save her."

Dumbledore looked slowly around the room. "We are all of us old. But some of us at least remember the passion and love of youth. Make no mistake that what the two of them share is a love purer and stronger than any I have ever seen, and as headmaster I have seen many love affairs. It was for that reason that I personally confirmed their marriage. And it is for that reason that I, as chief warlock, declare the marriage sufficient proof of Mr. Skywalker's residency and membership as part of English wizarding society."

Luna gripped Ben's hand tighter.

"The final item, then, is whether to turn him over to the Muggles," Dumbledore said.

"I have a question for Mr. Skywalker," Bones asked.

"Of course, Minister."

The Minister for Magic stood and stepped down from her seat. With a dismissive nod to Umbridge, who backed away with an unreadable expression, Bones stood before Ben and Luna. "Mr. Skywalker, why are you here on this world?"

"If you ask Luna, it is to marry her and carry her off to the stars with me," Ben said.

There were brief chuckles around the room, which increased when Luna added, "You may call me Space Witch!"

Bones smiled, but the expression remained controlled. "A laudable reason, to be sure. But my question is more direct, perhaps. What is it you hope to accomplish here?"

"The Jedi live to serve and protect society," Ben said. "Not any given society, but all societies. We exist to protect the innocent and preserve the peace wherever we find ourselves. We have existed for twenty thousand years as a force of good in the galaxy. I honestly do not know if Luna brought me here to marry her or not, but now that I am here, it is my duty to protect your people from evil to the best of my ability. And right now that means fighting Voldemort."

The statement of the name brought an array of whispers to the fore as members of the court and the media spoke. "Do you think you are a threat to him?" Bones asked.

"I think I could be," Ben said. "I am ashamed of my performance at Hogsmeade. I made a mistake that my tutors had already advised me not to try. It was a valuable lesson that I have learned. I am at Hogwarts to learn your magic. Between wand magic and the Force, I believe I could be an effective weapon against his forces. And if my Father finds this planet, he will be an even more effective weapon. Especially if he brings more Jedi with him. And if he brings my aunt and her husband…" Ben grinned. "I doubt a protego spell will hold up to a quad laser cannon that could level Hogwarts in a single shot."

Bones eyed him cautiously. "You're that confident in these muggle weapons of yours?"

Ben shrugged. "I've seen the magic wielded here. It is truly amazing. But I've also studied weapons so powerful that they can rip a planet apart in the space of a heartbeat. If the Death Star arrived in orbit of Earth, all the magic you possess would not keep it from destroying the planet. The galaxy is a very large place, Minister. For every wonder, there are a thousand horrors. That is what I and my fellow Jedi fight against."

The minister thought for a moment before she turned and resumed her seat. After she did so, she said, "So regardless of whatever reasons you may have come with, regardless of whatever methods brought you here, you feel obligated by your own code of conduct to fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters? Would this be a correct statement, Mr. Skywalker?"

"That would be correct, Madame Minister."

Bones nodded again and took a moment to look across the faces of her fellow officials. Ben watched her with interest. _She has quite a commanding presence, doesn't she_?

Ben was surprised at how clear the thought came in his head. He couldn't tell if it was the Force or their bond. _She's a natural leader_, Ben thought back. _She reminds me a little of my Aunt Leia_.

"I wish to call for a vote," the Minister asked finally. "All those in favor of turning Mr. Skywalker over to the muggle government, please raise your hands."

Ben watched as Umbridge and several others raised their arms. He tried to hide his surprise when he felt dark marks among some of the raised arms. Beside him, Luna whispered, "I can feel it too. Is this what your Force feels like?"

Ben nodded.

"All those opposed?"

The remainder of the Wizengamot, a number twice that previously holding up their hands, raised their own hands.

"The vote is recorded," Dumbledore said. "Ben Skywalker will remain a part of the British wizarding community with all rights and privileges therein. In addition, as a result of his marriage his disability of minority is hereby removed, as well as any restrictions for the practice of underage magic. Now, is there any more business before this court? No? Then I thank you all for your time."

Immediately, reporters started screaming questions at Luna and Ben. Ben was not entirely unaccustomed to media attention as Luke Skywalker's son, but Luna was stunned by the constant flashes. And so, wrapping an arm around her waist, Ben slipped the two of them into the Force.

"It's not perfect," Ben whispered to her, "but it should get us out of here."

As the startled press corps started looking for them, the two moved to stand by Dumbledore. He looked directly at them with a twinkle in his eyes. "Madame Bones, I believe you wanted a moment of time?" the headmaster asked.

The Minister for Magic stepped up behind him. "Did they disapparate?"

"They are merely biding their time for more peaceful environs," Dumbledore said. "Perhaps your office?"

"Yes, a good idea," she said.

Hidden in the Force, Ben and Luna followed behind the Minister and Headmaster. A group of four Aurors fell in behind them, including Moody. Moody was staring directly at the spot they hid, but said nothing.

Finally reaching the minister's spacious suite of offices, Moody turned to the spot where the young newlyweds hid. "So, you finally learned your lesson with that trick?"

Ben pulled them out of the Force. To those watching, it was as if they simply appeared. "I did," Ben said. "I don't know if Snape actually saw me, but I could feel a telepathic brush against my mind. He must have sensed me and pushed me out just like you did. I realize now that you were actually being gentle."

"So what's actually happening here?" Bones said as she took a seat behind her large, messy desk. "And why did it take a full session of the Wizengamot and a muggle Prime Minister for me to find out about this?"

"That is entirely my fault, Minister," Dumbledore said. "I apologize. Frankly, we were hoping Ben could remain a secret weapon of sorts. Miss Lovegood was the first to find him. She recovered him from where his craft crash-landed and took him to her home. Within twenty-four hours, her father was dead and the Weasley home was destroyed. But in the process he demonstrated abilities and weapons we do not have. And so since the start of term Ben has been undergoing special tutoring to learn our magic in addition to his own."

Bones looked to Ben. "And in the course of one month you managed to forge a soul bond with a sixteen-year-old millionaire orphan?"

Ben shrugged. "My father seems to think she used her magic to pull me to this world in the first place," Ben said. He looked over at Luna, and any doubts the minister may have had regarding their relationship melted before the heat in their mutual gaze. "Like Luna said, it wasn't love at first sight because we've always loved each other, we just didn't realize it until we saw each other. As for money—the Jedi Order doesn't believe in material wealth. However, I understand my father's actual worth, in comparison to your money, is probably somewhere in the billions. He just has it all in the Order and refuses to use it for himself. My aunt and uncle are also billionaires, I believe. But then again, Aunt Leia was the leader of the known galaxy for two terms for the New Republic and a princess of Alderaan, so she already had a fair amount of personal wealth. Money just doesn't mean much to me."

Moody snorted. "That only makes sense if you're a Lovegood."

Bones shook her head. "This is a lot to adjust to," she said. "If there are so many people in the galaxy, why is this the first time we've heard of people from another planet?"

"I don't think it is," Ben said. "I saw a symbol on the Lovegood will. Luna said it was a sign of the Deathly Hallows. But it is actually a glyph in the language of an ancient race of Force-users called Fallanasi. They have a power that can hide whole worlds from the rest of the galaxy. Almost like a Fidelius charm but on a planet-wide scale. My father couldn't find this world, which means it's hidden. But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me. I think that the Fallanasi have been to Earth, and I think they hid it from the rest of the galaxy."

"Based on one Symbol?"

"And the fact that Luna has this power," Ben said. "Luna is a Fallanasi. She may not have any training in the White Current, but the way she is able to step past most wards and move us is a unique Fallanasi power."

"That explains a lot," Moody snorted.

"The Lovegoods are a first family," Bones said. "It could accurately be said that every British and most French pureblood families are related to the Lovegoods."

"It would not surprise me," Ben said. He looked around the room, and then held Luna's hand. "Minister, did the muggles say where they are holding my ship? It has a transmitter beacon on it that might help my father find this place."

"Do you really think he could help?"

"He could," Ben said. "He…he truly is a legend, Minister. Father doesn't lose. He's saved the galaxy so many times, it's hard to keep track. I want him to get here as soon as possible."

"Yes, I very much look forward to meeting my father in law," Luna said. She smiled at the Minister. "He is actually a very attractive man, Minister. If you're not too busy, you should consider a lunch date."

Bone cleared her throat. "Yes, well, we shall see. As for your ship, I understand the muggle military has possession of it, but they did not tell me where. I suspect they will not be very happy with the Wizengamot vote." She turned to Moody. "I'm guessing you're one of his special tutors? Is he any good?"

Moody took a long, appraising look at Ben. "Aye, the lad's good. Getting' better frightening fast, too. Aside from a brief moment of abject stupidity that should have gotten him killed, he could easily have cut down even more Death Eaters and given old Snivellus a good run for his money. Instead we have this over-powered little witch torching the conniving git into a charcoal brick. Makes me wish I'd brought me marshmallows."

Luna laughed. "I'll be sure to inform you next time it is necessary to char someone," she said.

Bones's hard eyes fell on Ben. "Did you kill the Malfoy and Parkinson kids?"

"No," Ben said. "But I was there. They were among ten students that I exposed as Death Eaters when I arrived at Hogwarts that were planning on trying to abduct me and take me to Voldemort."

"They were killed with Unforgivables," Bones said.

"Yes they were," Moody agreed. "And if the elder Malfoy or Parkinson ever file a complaint, there will be a trial and a life sentence to Azkaban for the man who did it. But it was not Ben. For once he didn't actually participate in that particular skirmish."

The Minister shook her head. "Albus, we greatly appreciate the assistance your group has provided. I've instructed the DMLE to accept your assistance when it is offered. But if word gets out that one of your people used an Unforgivable on two children, Death Eaters or not, I may lose control."

"I understand," Dumbledore said gravely. "It was completely unexpected and not our normal order of business. That said, I hope you will accept Mr. Skywalker's support in our on-going efforts. In addition to his considerable abilities and increasingly proficient dueling skills, I understand he also has some military experience. I would recommend that a place be made among our two groups to maximize the effectiveness of those skills and experiences."

The minister once again turned to Ben. "You're sixteen years old. You honestly expect us to believe you have military experience?"

"Jedi start young," Ben said with a shrug. He had no intention of going into his experiences during the last civil war.

"Indeed," was all Bones said. "My daughter has mentioned you, though obviously without detail. She described what happened the night before your bonding. She said it was the most romantic thing she'd ever seen. The girl actually got teary describing it to me. I gather the problems have been resolved?"

"He fixed me." It had become Luna's refrain any time the question was posed. "He healed me, just like I knew he would."

"And she healed me," Ben said. "Physically and spiritually. The Force guided us together, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"So what is your next step?"

Before Dumbledore could speak, Luna announced, "We have to go to Gringotts and get our wedding bands."

"Bands?" Ben asked, surprised. "You people use rings on this world? Honestly, I thought I would have to scar myself or something."

"Why would you think that?" Bones said.

"We're very primitive," Luna said in an overly loud whisper. "No, Ben, we have rings. My mother's ring is in the vault, along with all our family heirlooms and treasures. So we must have the rings."

"I'm not sure if this is a good time," Dumbledore said.

"You could try to stop us, I suppose," Luna said brightly. She made it sound as if the attempt would be highly entertaining.

"You know, when you left the infirmary for Ben's room," the Headmaster said, "I had not removed the wards. You simply broke them. They were my strongest."

Minister Bone's brow lifted. "They apparated through your best wards?"

"We rode the White Current around them," Ben explained. "That's what I meant about her being Fallanassi. Only the most powerful White Current adepts can ride it like that. With our power combined, she had the strength to break through."

"Honestly, I didn't even notice them," Luna said. "But then, I was very intent on making love with you, so I can't say I would have noticed anything short of an unforgivable at that point."

"Was this before or after your bonding?" Moody asked.

"Yes," Ben and Luna both said. They laughed.

"Oh to be young again," Dumbledore said.

"Indeed," Bones said. "Well, I regret we had to drag you down here, Mr. Skywalker, but I am glad to have had the opportunity to meet you. I hope we can work together in the future." She offered her hand.

Ben took it without hesitation. "I hope so as well, Minister. Thank you."

"Albus, can you stay a moment?" Bones said.

"Stay, Albus," Moody said. "I'll escort the lovebirds to Gringotts."

"Thank you, Alastor," the headmaster said as he resumed the seat he had vacated to leave.


	17. The Princess In The Painting

**Chapter Seventeen: The Princess In The Painting**

"I do so hate visiting the family vault," Luna said as she, Ben and Moody made their way to Gringotts.

Once again Ben found himself staring at the strangely uneven structure that housed most of the wizards' wealth. The two of them moved quickly up the steps followed by the hobbled steps of their minder.

Evidently word of the trial had not reached the whole wizarding world, but Rita Skeeter's article in the Daily Prophet had. Wizards and witches watched the young couple walk through the lobby until they stood in a short line to see a goblin. However, Moody's intimidating presence cowed the onlookers from approaching.

Finally, their turn arrived. Luna placed her vault key on the table. "I need to access my family fault."

The goblin held the key, pulled it under the desk a moment, and then returned it. "Very well, Mrs. Skywalker. Should your husband be keyed to the vault as well?"

"Yes, please."

The goblin nodded and gave a toothy grimace that might have been an attempt at pleasantness. "Follow my assistant."

The assistant proved to stand just above Luna's waist, though it probably weighed more than both she and Ben combined. It waddled in front of them until they reached what looked for all intents and purposes like a mine car. The two climbed in while Moody stood nearby.

"If you too aren't safe in the vaults, you aren't safe anywhere," the old auror said.

"You just don't like the ride," Luna said.

"Right you are, cheeky bird," Moody said.

Moments later, Ben understood why.

He had no problem with speed, so long as he was in control of it. However, the carts reached speeds approaching fifty klicks on rickety, unstable tracks that threatened to spill them into unknown depths below with every hair-raising turn.

He did not enjoy the ride. Luna simply closed her eyes and smiled pleasantly until they stopped. "That is certainly a way to wake up," she said brightly as they climbed out of the car.

"We may be a while," she told the goblin.

The creature nodded, and in seconds the cart sped on its way. The found themselves standing in a dark, dank cavern without even a hint of natural light. Two ever-burning torches flanked a massive iron door with a series of intricate locks. When the sound of the retreating cart finally faded, they became aware of terrible, absolute stillness.

From the shadows they sensed darkness completely independent of the lack of light. "Lumos," Ben said.

The light from his wand illuminated a vault across the rails from their own. It looked just as darkened and damp. The feeling of darkness was emanating from within that vault.

"I hate coming here," Luna whispered. Ben took her hand. "Still, it's better to have my knight with me."

"I like to be useful," Ben said. "Nox." His light spell ended.

Luna inserted the key. The door clanged and rattled, boomed and groaned, as a dozen extravagant locks opened, and even more magical protections eased to allow passage of the bearer of the key.

They stepped into a cave of treasure lit magically from above.

Even Ben felt a moment of awe as he followed his young wife into the Lovegood vaults. "By the Force," he whispered.

There were literally piles of gold coins in old metal buckets around the room as high as Luna. It was interesting to Ben that the wizarding world economy was based so firmly on gold. From Hermione, he learned that the Muggle world's banking system no longer depended on the metal. There were large shelves almost like holo-relay control boards lined with jewelry of every description and nature.

The true treasure, though, were the artifacts, scrolls and books shelved around the room. "This is incredible," Ben whispered.

He stepped past the gold, past the jewels, and even past the priceless artifacts. He ignored the millennia-old swords and suits of arm, the old family wands and other priceless heirlooms, and looked at the list of books and scrolls. However, as he moved he caught sight of a portrait. He paused, surprised at how very similar she looked to Luna. "Princess Gisela Bonamour?" he read the caption on the frame. "Who is that?"

He felt Luna glide to his side and put an arm around his waist. The gesture felt familiar and comforting. "The first Lovegood," Luna said. "Gisela, daughter of Charlemagne, the first king of Europe. Charlemagne was one of the last kings to rule over wizards openly, and Gisela was a witch of great renown. However, her brother Louis was very religious. Early Christians thought witches and wizards were evil. So, under the guise that Charlemagne's daughters were immoral, he tried to either send them all to convents or have them quietly killed." Luna reached up and touched the portrait. "I often imagined how terrible it would have been to have to leave everything you know behind. She travelled with the English scholar Alcuin after she left, and finally made it to Britain. One of her decedents was Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwarts." She smiled up at Ben. "That's why all Lovegoods are sorted to Ravenclaw."

Ben stood with his wife's arm around him, his arm around her shoulders, and stared up at her ancestor. "She was beautiful. You look a lot like her."

"Pureblood inbreeding, I'm sure," Luna said.

She looked up at him, but frowned when she saw his face. "Ben?"

Ben ignored her and reached up to the portrait until his fingers brushed against the canvass in front of the pendant of the Carolingian princess. "Sanctuary," he whispered.

"What?" Luna asked.

"Is that portrait alive, like in Hogwarts?"

Luna placed a hand on the portrait and closed her eyes as she fed magical energy into it. Within, the Princess Gisela blinked, yawned and stretched. She spoke a short phrase and stared at the two.

"I'm sorry," Luna said. "We don't speak Vulgar Latin. Do you speak English?"

"I speak whatever language my heirs do," the portrait said. "But what an ungainly language you speak." She paused and smiled. "You are beautiful, child. Is this your man, then?"

"My husband," Luna said. "Ben Skywalker. He is a Jedi Knight."

Gisela's face went blank. "A Jedi?"

"You were Fallanassi, weren't you?" Ben finally asked. "You wear the sanctuary pendant."

"My mother, Hildegard, was true Fallanassi," Gisela admitted. "She was the last of the original settlers. But I do not understand—how did you come to be on this world? We hid it forever from the Sith Wars. None should have been able to find it."

"None did," Luna said. "I summoned him. There is a Dark Wizard terrifying the land. I called upon my magic to find someone to make it better. It summoned Ben."

The woman blinked. "A powerful witch you are, then, to call out from within the White Current. The power must have bred true in you." She turned to Skywalker. "And do your vicious wars still wage, Jedi? Even as just the ghost of my former self, I see darkness has touched you. Do the Jedi and Sith still war upon each other?"

Ben found himself suddenly laced with overwhelming guilt. "The Sith War ended over a thousand years ago, but they weren't destroyed. My father fought two Sith lords, and he and I killed the last one just a few years ago. There are no more Sith that we know of."

"That you know of," Gisela said with a sneer. "The Sith slaughtered or enslaved the Fallanassi where they found us. After the Battle of Mizra, many of the Fallanassi sought shelter. We found this world in the Unknown Regions. It was rich with the Force, the White Current, and the magic of its inhabitants. We settled and folded the whole world into the White Current. In time we interacted with the peoples of this world and sought men for marriages and children. Though we tried to stay true to our heritage, I know just with my own children that much was lost. The Fallanassi became the First Families, and our culture, language and writing has been lost to the passage of time. Even the children Alcuin gave me do not remember. Save my Bonamours. My Lovegoods."

"Father always told me about you," Luna said. "About our past. But I never heard the name Fallanassi until Ben described it."

"How do you know if it, Jedi?"

"My father befriended a Fallanassi named Akanah Norand Goss Pell. She's now the leader of the Fallanassi on Pydyr. She is helping him try to find us."

"She will not be able to, even if she is an Adept," Gisela said. "Only by pulling Earth from the White Current will it ever be found."

"How do we do that?" Ben asked.

"I will not tell you," Gisela said. "This world is not ready to be exposed to the violence of the galaxy. It would never survive. I will not endanger its people by exposing it."

"My father is the Grandmaster of the Jedi," Ben said. He took a deep breath. "He also knows the White Current. Akanah taught him. They could easily fold the planet back into the Current after they recover me."

"You would take the last of my pureblood descendents from this world?" Gisela said.

"We will return in time," Luna said. "I had a very nice vision. Our son's name is Nataniel. Our grandsons will be named Nat and Kol."

"A seer," Gisela said. "Like my mother before me." She closed her eyes. "You ask me to betray the wishes of my ancestors."

"I ask you to help reunite a father with his son," Ben responded. "And perhaps allow your descendant a chance to learn true Fallanassi culture."

"Even if you know, it may not matter," Gisela continued. "It took fifty adepts to fold the whole planet into the White Current. There are no trained adepts left."

"Not on Earth," Ben said. "I have contacted my father through the Force. He and Akanah can help us."

"Very well," Gisela said with a sigh. "There is a scroll with the Danger glyph upon it. This details the methods we used to hide this world."

Ben visible sagged in relief, and Luna reached up and kissed his cheek before she turned to her ancestor. "Thank you very much," she said. She turned back to Ben. "Now, we need to find wedding rings."

"You are truly married, then?" Gisela said. "Even in my time, it was rare for Jedi to marry."

"Times have changed," Ben said. "My parents were both Jedi Masters. My aunt is a Jedi master as well, and had three children with her husband. Marriage is no longer forbidden. Although..." Ben blushed, "getting married at sixteen will probably raise a few eyebrows."

"It is a good age to be married," Gisela said. "I had my first child at sixteen."

"Then we shall endeavor to make a child for you as soon as practical," Luna said brightly.

"I bet you will, lecherous witch," Gisela said. For a brief moment, her bright smile echoed Luna's. "At least in matters of love our blood runs true. Go then, find your wedding bands. And accept my blessings, for what they are worth."

Luna paused and stared up at her ancestor. Very solemnly, she said, "They are worth more than you know. Thank you, Princess."

Gisela nodded regally, and then slowly settled back into her timeless repose.

It took another thirty minutes to find the twelve hundred year old scroll that detailed the process to fold the Earth into the White Current. It took much longer to find a ring for Ben.

Luna's was simple. She selected the ring her mother wore. However, then men's rings were all almost universally gaudy, some with precious stones as large as a thumb. Finally, though, they found a ring of white gold lined with modest sapphires. "They match your eyes," Luna said. Then she smiled. "And my earrings."

They stood in the center of the vault, staring down at the rings. "I feel almost as if we should have music playing in the background," Ben said.

Naturally, music started playing. An orchestral piece Ben did not know. "You do that?"

"The old family phonograph," Luna said. "It was charmed to respond to desire."

"Do you want…" Ben stopped. "Do you think we should do or say anything?"

"I love you," she said simply as she took his ring from his palm and slipped it onto his ring finger. At first, it was too large, but the ambient magic in the room quickly caused the band to contract until it fit him perfectly.

Her ring was a wide platinum band with a large diamond set in it. Ben slipped it onto her finger and watched as it too contracted. "It feels strange," Luna said as she held it up to her face. "After Mum died, I never thought I would wear it. Even back then, I knew that there was no one on this world who would love me."

Ben smiled. "No one on this Earth was good enough to love you," he said.

Luna blinked and for a moment, her beautiful silver eyes glistened. "Not until you fell from the stars," she whispered. She looked around then, and her smile ticked. "Have you ever made love on gold before?"

"I can't imagine it would be very comfortable."

"That's what cushioning charms are for," she said.

They left the vault with a scroll, rings, and a healthy flush to their faces much, much later.

The goblin in the cart did not make any comment.

She stood in the lobby of the bank. The goblins knew better than to disturb her.

She was beautiful, with long blonde tresses curled in the latest style. Her robes were made of the finest acromantula silk. Her rings bore stones equal to most ministry employee's annual salaries and the diamond and pearl necklace she wore was over four hundred years old. She was every ounce a pureblood witch of the highest quality.

Moody was standing across the lobby of the bank, supposedly reading the most recent edition of the _Daily Prophet_. However, she knew better. The auror was a legend, even among his enemies.

Narcissa Malfoy was most definitely his enemy.

She knew he was aware of her presence, but both played the game of ignoring the other. It had been three hours since the silly Lovegood girl and her supposed husband had left. Finally, though, she saw them emerge from the direction of the vaults hand-in-hand. They were positively beaming at each other.

Narcissa's stomach twisted into something at once burningly hot, and numbingly cold. They wore wedding rings. It was true, then. They were married. They murdered her one and only son, murdered her husband, and they married like it was just another day.

Her hand trembled as she fought the war of emotion raging inside. She watched as Moody pushed himself to his feet to fall in behind them.

She could not stop herself even if she tried. She stood and took five steps until she froze directly in front of them. "Hello," she said quietly.

"Narcissa," Moody warned her.

Her nostrils flared, but she ignored him. Instead, she stared at the couple before her. The young man was only an inch taller than she was, and she was not a tall woman. However, Luna still seemed small beside him. However, the girl clutched his hand protectively as she stared right back. She did not flinch.

"Good day, Mrs. Malfoy," Luna said clearly.

Narcissa forced a smile. "Good day, Miss Lovegood. Or is it Mrs. Skywalker, now? I heard of your bonding. Congratulations."

Narcissa watched some silent communication pass between the two. It was not unexpected if their bonding was as strong as the paper had hinted at. Ben's eyes widened briefly, before he nodded. "You are Draco's mother," he said.

"I am," Narcissa ground out through clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Ben said.

His voice sounded so sincere. He even managed the emote anguish in his eyes. If she were anyone else, she might have believed that he genuinely regretted murdering her one and only child.

She forced a tense smile. "Not yet," she said. "But you will be."

With that, she spun on her heel and stormed out of the bank.

"Well, that could've gone better," Moody muttered.

Luna and Ben shared a long look, and the glow from their afternoon together in the vault faded. Finally, with Moody in tow, they left the bank to return to Hogwarts.


	18. The Brightest Witch of Her Age

**Chapter Eighteen: The Brightest Witch of her Age**

_Alien From Another Planet Threatens Wizarding World!_

_By Rita Skeeter_

_In a stunning turn of events, the Wizengamot today held hearings to determine the status of Ben Skywalker, the so-called hero of Hogsmeade and the lothario who managed to ensnare the unstable sixteen-year-old heiress of the Lovegood estate in marriage. _

_Under questioning from Undersecretary Delores Umbridge, Skywalker admitted before the entire Wizengamot and the assembled press that he was, in fact, born on another world entirely!_

_Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you read correctly. Ben Skywalker is an alien from another planet. _

_Even more astounding, is that Ben Skywalker openly declared himself as a threat to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and that his father would come and be an even greater threat. In fact, given the line of questioning, one wonders if his father, presumably another alien, is not in fact a threat to all of wizard kind. _

_Skywalker spoke of weapons that could destroy whole worlds. Is this the forefront of an invasion? Will all of life on this planet, magical and Muggle alike, be erased from creation because of the spite of one emotional sixteen-year-old boy?_

_We here at the Daily Prophet hope and pray that our elected leaders can keep this threat to existence in check, before his alien weapons destroy us all._

"That wasn't a reactionary article at all, was it?" Hermione muttered as she tossed the paper down on the table. She sat with her fellow Gryffindors for breakfast the day after Ben's trial.

"Dad was there," Ron said helpfully. "He said the article was complete rubbish. Ben made a point of saying his father was of the Light and wouldn't harm anyone if he didn't have to."

"God, I hate that Skeeter!" Hermione said again.

Next to Ron, Ginny made a noncommittal sound.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance before he put an arm around his sister's shoulders and just sat there holding her. Hermione had spent much of the night with Ginny's head in her lap, crying. She managed to hold in the shock and horror of Dean Thomas's death for a few days, before at last it broke through.

Across from them, Seamus Finnigan merely nodded. "Didn't buy a word," he muttered. "Skywalker's done all right. Anyone that kick's that git Malfoy out of here can't be all that bad."

They heard someone clear their throat and turned to see Slytherin robes. For a moment, Hermione almost expected to see Malfoy's leering face. She felt a guilty surge of relief when she saw it was Daphne Greengrass.

"I guess that means you haven't seen them," the Slytherin prefect said.

Hermione noticed with a carefully concealed smile how the Slytherin girl's hand rested lightly on Finnigan's shoulder, and how he did not seem to notice it. The movement seemed natural to them both.

"It would have been late when they returned," Hermione said.

"We were up pretty late in the common room," Daphne said. "Some of the younger kids were worried about them. They…they like Luna. They kind of treat her like the house mom or something. It's all rather strange."

Hermione shrugged. "They have ways of getting around that you can't see," she finally said. "They could be in their room right now and you'd never know it."

Daphne nodded, and then looked down at the paper. "I know we aren't friends, Granger, but I have to know…is it true?"

"Which part?"

"Is he really from another world?"

"You didn't see the sword he was swinging at Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked. "Do you think that was something from around here? I don't know of any spells that can do that, and I know the muggles don't have laser swords."

Hermione didn't mean to sound snappish. She and Greengrass never got along well, but she saw the other girl was making an effort, and it was obviously difficult, judging by the wince on Seamus's face. Daphne had gripped his shoulder hard.

"Look," Hermione said, "he's never actually denied it. On the train he said he was from a school on Ossus and everyone assumed that was in Australia. He didn't advertise it because the headmaster asked him not to. But he is from another world. I've been tutoring him on how to use our magic to help us fight Voldemort. You saw him at Hogsmeade. You know he's good."

Daphne shook her head. "I also saw what happened to him, and what Luna did." For a moment, the cool defenses of the Slytherin fell before the awe and fright of a teen-ager. "How did she do that, Granger? How could she do that? Not all the healers in Saint Mungos could have saved him. And she just shoved his guts back in and made him whole again."

Hermione tried not to think too much about the sight of Ben lying with his intestines spilled about his legs. It was impossible what Luna did, even within the realm of magic. And yet… "I honestly don't know," Hermione admitted. "I've heard of magical miracles before. The ancient Greek wizard Asclepius was known to save those thought beyond all healing arts. But then again he's regarded as one of the most powerful wizards in history. The Greeks thought he was a god. Even Merlin looked up to him."

"So Luna's either a God, or she's just really powerful," Greengrass whispered. "Merlin, this is just so…"

She stopped speaking. Everyone else did as well. Dumbledore stepped in through the large doors followed by Ben and Luna. "You're attention please!" the headmaster's voice roared across the room. "You've no doubt seen today's Daily Prophet articles. Now doubt you have questions regarding recent events. Mr. Skywalker has graciously offered to field questions from his classmates regarding these recent events. Therefore, this morning's classes are cancelled. Prefects, if you would be so good, please summon all students to the great hall immediately. We're only going to do this once."

Without another word, Dumbledore marched back to the dais on which sat the faculty table. With a flick of his wrist, a smaller table soared across the room accompanied by two chairs. He turned back to Ben and Luna.

"At least there will be no Umbridge this time," Luna said.

Dumbledore grinned, and then stepped up past the staff table. Already the staff was there, though many of them already knew of Ben's special status through their affiliation with the Order of the Phoenix.

Hermione smiled to herself at the look the newlyweds shared, and at the way they held hands as they stepped around the table and sat down. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Ginny's ghost of a smile as well.

"Ron, move," Hermione said.

"What, why?"

"Because I'll kick you in the nads if you don't," Hermione said.

Greengrass stared at them. "I thought you were seeing Professor Black," Daphne said. "Why the interest in Ron? That's the tradition, right? That you have to kick his nads to date him?"

Ron's face turned a bright shade of orange as he got up and switched places with Ginny. Ginny stared at Hermione a moment before the older girl reached across the table, and simply held her hand.

Ginny stared down at the gesture and smiled at Hermione. "Thanks."

"I'd better go get the babies," Daphne muttered. "Merlin help us if Blaise actually does anything."

It took a few minutes before the stragglers made it to the hall. Many still wore pajamas under their school robes, and more than a few had bed hair.

When the hall was filled, Dumbledore stood up. "Before we begin, I would like to set a few rules on questions. If you have a question, stand up in the middle of the floor and ask it. You will have a maximum of three questions. I will not have this turn into a madhouse. Second, verbal assaults are not questions. Third, I have given Ben free rein to transfigure you into a rodent if you do not purport yourself in the appropriate fashion. If you cannot show respect to your school, then at least show courtesy to a classmate. Now, if you have questions for Mr. Skywalker or his lovely young wife, you may stand to approach and ask it."

For the longest time, no one dared move. In the end, it was Daphne Greengrass who left the Slytherin table and moved to the front of the hall.

Hermione left her position at the Gryffindor table and made her way up the hall until she sat by Sirius at the head table. No one questioned her position there, and this way she could see Daphne's face.

The girl was staring at the wedding rings. "I…" she started. "I guess I just need to hear you say it. Where are you from, Skywalker?"

Hermione could actually here the students in the hall hold their breaths.

"I've lived most of my life on a planet called Coruscant," Ben answered.

Daphne seemed almost to stagger, as if from a physical blow. "Did you come here to destroy us?"

"I came here because Luna called me," Ben said.

"Actually, my magic pulled his ship down," Luna added. "But I was very much wishing for someone to make things better."

"But your father…"

"My father would sooner die defending you from tyranny than be an agent of it," Ben said solidly. "He has been a defender of peace and justice for the whole of his life. He would never allow his presence to become a threat to this planet."

"But what about others…"

"Your planet has been hidden from the rest of the galaxy by an old magical charm," Ben said. "Luna's ancestors knew of the greater galaxy and decided for their own safety to place the Earth under something similar to the Fidelius charm. We know there is a way to remove this charm long enough for my father to reach us, but we would then immediately reactivate it so you continue to be protected."

Daphne opened her mouth to speak, but then turned and sat back down. A moment later, Colin Creevey from Gryffindor stood up. "Do you really have a spaceship?" the Muggle-born wizard said.

"I do," Ben said. "Or at least, I did. It's being held by Muggle authorities. But even if I had it, it's not flyable again. I don't know how Luna pulled me down, but I burned my thrusters and hyperdrive out on reentry. The only way I'm leaving is if my dad comes and gives me a ride."

"Have you seen any aliens?" Colin asked.

"He is an alien," Luna whispered. Somehow her whisper reached every ear there. Hermione chuckled, and several others laughed.

"You know what I mean," Creevey said with a blush.

"There are many different types of beings in the galaxy," Ben said. "Humans are just one of them. Some are very much like us. Some actually are divergent versions of us. Some, though, are so wildly different they require suits to breathe our atmosphere. Sentience comes in many forms."

Colin quickly turned and walked at a brisk pace back to his table. The next to stand was Ginny Weasley, of all people. She walked until she stood before them. "Are you going to help us fight Voldemort?" she asked. There were gasps at the sound of his name.

"With every ounce of my being," Ben said. "He stands for everything the Jedi fight against. I don't know if I'll win, but I will fight. For you. For Dean. For Lavender. For all of us."

Ginny nodded and walked not back to her table, but out of the hall entirely. No one made any move to stop her, and the questions continued for nearly two hours. Most were variations on a theme. Was he from space? Did he fly space ships? Could he really fly without magic (this from several of the Ravenclaws who saw him levitate to save Luna). Other questions were about he and Luna—when did they realize they were in love?

"I realized that when I pulled him out of his ship," Luna said. "I was disappointed that his name was not Ollivarius Dumplesnort. He looks like an Ollivarius, to me. But he looks very good naked and is wonderful to snuggle next to, even when unconscious because of crashing his space ship."

This, of course, led to another whole realm of questions that made Ben's face blush the color of plum ice cream, but which Luna answered happily. Hermione held up one hand to Sirius and started counting down fingers. As the last finger fell, Dumbledore announced, "Well, this has been most helpful." He effectively cut off the discussion of the sexual benefits of marriage before it got started.

Sirius grinned. "Too bad," he finally said. "Promised to be a lively talk."

"Shush, you perverted old man," Hermione whispered back. "Here you are nearly forty with an eighteen year-old girlfriend."

"You're birthday is not for another week," Sirius said.

"Close enough."

He smiled brilliantly at her. "You only think that. I promise you'll know when you turn eighteen."

Hermione sighed. "You're as subtle as the Hogwarts Express, you know that, right?"

He shrugged. "I am what I am. I feel what I feel." He hugged her waist under the table and the two watched as the meeting started breaking up. "And right now I feel we're just getting started."

_Rita Skeeter is a Blithering Idiot! _

_Also, she is an illegal animagus._

_A Quibbler Special Report from I. P. Green._

_In a shocking turn of events, it was discovered by much of the country yesterday that Rita Skeeter, a renowned reporter with the Daily Prophet, is in fact a blithering idiot. This discovery, in conjunction with her ongoing disability in the realm of fashion, has led many to question why anyone in their right mind would listen to her, and why the Daily Prophet would continue to give her money for the regurgitated filth pouring from her quill. _

_The events leading up to the discovery of Ms. Skeeter's overwhelming lack of higher mental functioning came the day following the Wizengamot hearing to determine the residency status and origin of Ben Skywalker._

_Mr. Skywalker, a delicious-looking young man with the most beautiful blue eyes ever to grace this world, is by admission to the Wizengamot a human being from another planet. He crashed to Earth in late August so that he could fall in love with an eventually marry Luna Lovegood, a sprightly and interesting girl with an affection for plum ice cream and turnips._

_After discussing with the Wizengamot how he came to Earth, and that he was willing to fight against the forces of Darkness that threaten us all, and how his father was a powerful warrior of the light who would help, Ms. Skeeter somehow managed to miss everything of pertinence and instead vomited forth a reactionary piece of nonsense attempting to imply that Mr. Skywalker was a threat to the whole world._

"_I was at the hearing, and when I read Skeeter's article I just shook my head. She didn't get a single thing right. That woman is one blithering idiot," said a Ministry Employee who was not Arthur Weasley. _

_This reporter, for one, is proud to be a sentient being capable of higher thought processes. Therefore, in celebration of being able to think, I have provided for your reading pleasure the entire transcript of the hearing, intact and unedited. You will see for yourself that Ms. Skeeter is in fact a reactionary, cross-eyed, blithering idiot with poor fashion sense._

_Also, she is an unregistered animagus. Her form is a beetle, which allows her to scurry about and spy._

Hermione laughed aloud. Beside her, Sirius snorted as he pulled her closer. The two reclined in the bed in Black's faculty quarters. "This has to be Luna," she finally said. It was the day after Ben's return to Hogwarts as a publicly known alien.

"Looks like the Quibbler is continuing without Xenophilius," Black said.

"With a reputable staff, too," Hermione said. She pointed at the publisher and editor. The publisher was Luna herself, but the editor was the former editor of Wizarding World Monthly who retired three months prior. "They might actually start writing some better articles."

They turned the page and second the page two banner: "Sex is better naked. Details follow."

"Or not," Sirius said with a snicker. "Although it is better naked."

"Pervert," Hermione muttered.

"You disagree?"

"Considering we're both naked, I shall not disagree," Hermione said. She sighed and leaned back against his shoulder. "He's going to respond to this."

All humor faded as he knew exactly who she meant. "Yes," Black said. "And in Force. Hogsmeade was a nightmare, but it'll just be the beginning. It's the end of the Hogsmeade weekends, that's for sure."

They both sat up when they heard a knock at the door. "Oh bugger," Hermione said.

"Too late for that," Sirius said with a leering grin.

"Shush, you! And get some robes on." She quickly pulled on some clothes and, waiting until Black finished dressing, opened the door.

Luna and Ben stood outside the room, blushing. "Sorry to interrupt," Ben muttered.

"I am too, it was fun sensing what was going on in there before you started reading," Luna said.

"Sensing?" Hermione said.

"I'm teaching Luna some basic Jedi techniques," Ben said. "You guys project in the Force when you…."

"Oh." Hermione blushed to her roots. "OH!"

Behind her, Black laughed. "She is the brightest witch of her age!" he called with glee.

"And among the loudest," Luna said with a brilliant grin. She leaned forward and hugged the blushing head girl. "I want to be invited to the wedding."

"We did have a reason to interrupt," Ben said with a cough. He held up an ancient scroll. "The kind only the brightest witch in her age could assist with."

All sense of embarrassment fled before the need for intellectual pursuit. "Come in," she said. "What is that?"

"It is the notes from Queen Hildegard regarding how the Earth was folded into the White Current," Ben said. "Turns out Luna's descended from one of your kings. What was his name, Sharlemag?"

"Charlemagne," Luna said. "The man produced twenty or so children, several of whom were magical, so you could say nearly all of us are descended from him."

Hermione, though, ignored the exchange and stared at the scroll so intently she appeared almost to be hyperventilating. "Hildegarde is the mother of Wizarding Europe," she whispered. "One of her great granddaughters is…"

"Rowena Ravenclaw, yes, Luna told me," Ben said. He took the scroll to a table near the bed and pulled it out. Hermione followed like a fish on a string, while Sirius and Luna followed.

"You smell like sex," Luna said to Black.

"So do you," Black said.

She smiled. "It's a good time to be alive."

He grinned right back. "It is indeed."

Ben and Hermione ignored them. "I don't recognize the language," Hermione said with a scowl. "If it's Carolingian in origin it should have either been in Vulgate Latin or Medieval Latin. The writing would have either been in Roman half uncial script or depending on how late in Charlemagne's reign Carolingian miniscule. But this isn't any of them. In fact, it looks almost like some type of idiographic language."

"I love her," Black said. "Don't understand half of what she says, but gods do I love her."

Hermione looked at him with the funniest combination of a scowl at being interrupted, and a smile of affection. "Shush," she said gently. She looked back down. "I recognize spell diagrams, but not the spell itself. In fact, it doesn't even look like traditional spell diagramming, and the diagramming system hasn't changed since Pliny the Elder."

"That's a problem, then," Ben muttered. "I recognize a few glyphs, but I never learned the whole Fallannassi language. But we have to figure this out if we're ever going to get my father here."

Hermione kept unrolling the scroll. It was far longer than even Ben suspected. "Wow," she whispered. "This is very advanced. I wonder…" She looked up at Black. "Do you think Flamel would know it?"

"He might, if he weren't so busy getting ready to die," Black said.

"Flamel?" Ben asked.

"Nicolas Flamel," Luna said. "He's four hundred years old, I believe."

"Six hundred," Hermione said absently. "He was born in 1330."

"He's human?" Ben asked in surprise.

"He created the Philospher's Stone," Hermione said. "It's an alchemical device that creates an Elixir that can essentially lead to immortality. Voldemort went after it, though, so we had to destroy it. Nicolas has been using his diminishing stores to put his affairs in order. After his wife Perenelle died, he actually seemed okay with losing his immortality."

"But he's a pureblood wizard from France," Luna said. "Only five centuries removed from when Hildegarde wrote this." She looked up at Hermione. "You really are quite clever. He might actually recognize the writing."

"The problem is getting him here to look at this," Hermione said. "He and Professor Dumbledore have worked together before. If anyone can get him, it's the Professor."

The sound of a knock brought the discussion to an end as all four of them straightened and stared. "It's Professor McGonagall," Ben said.

Hermione nodded without questioning how he knew and stepped to the door.

She was not surprised by McGonagall's faintly disapproving stare at seeing a hastily robed Hermione opening the door to Sirius Black's faculty apartment. The younger witch bit back a retort. Hermione had always respected and genuinely liked McGonagall, and the constant disapproval over her and Sirius hurt more than she wanted to admit.

"Oh good," McGonagall said as she looked over Hermione's shoulder. "Mr. Skywalker, I have some news for you. Do you have a moment?"

Hermione stepped aside and the transfigurations professor stepped into the room with a curt nod to Sirius and a more beneficent smile at Luna. Evidently, the magical marriage of two sixteen year old students was more palatable than her soon-to-be eighteen year old student sleeping with a fellow professor.

"What can we do for you, Professor?" Ben asked politely.

"Actually, it's what we can do for you," McGonagall said. "Although we do not discuss it often, I have a brother in Cupar. He's a squib. He also happens to be a retired colonel in the Royal Air Force. After he read the Daily Prophet article, and more importantly the Quibbler's article this morning, he made a few calls from some old friends. I do believe we have found your ship."

Ben stared. It was Luna who spoke. "Where, Professor?"

McGonagall beamed. "Fife County. It's in a special annex a little north of RAF Leuchars Air Command. It's really not that far away at all."

Immediately possibilities started pouring through Ben's head. So thick ran his thoughts that he at first missed the subtle warnings from the Force. Quickly, the warnings turned from subtle to urgent. He looked up and Luna, who stared back wide-eyed.

"Something is wrong," Ben whispered.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

Ben knew, though. The moment they touched he felt what she felt. In the Force, he sensed danger, overwhelming danger, surrounded the castle. The walls suddenly reverberated with Dumbledore's voice. "The Ministry of Magic has fallen. Hogwarts is under attack. Prefects, please have your students return to their houses. Heads of House and all staff are to assemble in the great hall immediately."

"Oh my God," Hermione whispered. "It's begun."


	19. The Boy Who Fled

**Chapter Nineteen: The Boy Who Fled**

After a very fast detour to the Slytherin dorm rooms, Ben was strapping on both his lightsaber and his blaster as he, Hermione, Sirius and Luna ran toward the Great Hall. McGonagall had stopped by her House Common room to check on her students, and arrived almost simultaneously.

"The wards are under attack," Dumbledore said as soon as they arrived. "They won't hold for long, especially if Tom joins the attack. We knew this could happen—it's time to make decisions."

"What about the ministry?" Hermione asked.

"According to Shacklebolt, Minister Bones and most department heads are dead. Arthur managed to escape, but I don't know who else did," Dumbledore said sadly. "So we must take action."

"Get the muggleborns and high profile targets out," Black said without hesitation. "That's who Voldemort's after. Minerva and I can get them to safety."

"I'm not going anywhere," McGonagall snapped. "Someone has to stay here to watch over the students."

"What about Profess…." Hermione stopped and stared at the headmaster. "You're not planning on staying, are you?" Her voice grew hysterical.

Dumbledore stepped to her and placed his good hand on her shoulder. Very quietly, he held up his withered, darkened hand. "I'm dying," he said softly. "If by hastening the inevitable by a few months I can buy you time to escape, then I do so gladly."

Hermione's eyes were watering freely. "You can't die."

"If but only that were true," he said. "Sirius, you and Hermione gather the Muggle-borns and get out. Use the emergency portkeys in the chamber. Once the wards go down, you'll be able to escape. Ben, Luna, I need you both to go with them."

"I can stay here and fight," Ben said.

Hermione shook her head and pointed to the scroll in Luna's hand. "That's more important," she said.

Dumbledore stared. "Is that a Carolingian seal on that scroll?"

"It's a description of how the Fallanassi hid this planet," Ben said. "But I don't read that language, and we need translation help."

Dumbledore removed it from Luna's hand, unrolled a portion, and tapped it with his wand. "_Transliterati,_" he said. It had no effect on the script. "Hmm, charmed against translation spells. I recognize the symbols though. Have you tried to contact Nicolas Flamel? I believe he reads this script."

"I knew it!" Hermione muttered.

The headmaster nodded as he rolled it back up and returned it to Luna. They all looked up at the sound of a distant thud that reverberated through the whole castle. "There is another chore I must ask you to complete, Hermione. You know of the Horcruxes. There are two left. I've come to believe at least one of them is the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. We must find it and destroy it, whatever the cost. The Order members will help hide the students, but we must find those horcruxes."

Hermione wiped her eyes as she nodded.

Dumbledore looked back to Ben, who was flushed with anger. Then the headmaster reached down with his good hand and gripped the ball of fingers that was Luna and Ben holding hands. "Ben, I need you and your wife safe. You can't win this fight, not now, and not here. Go, and figure out how to save us all."

The headmaster stepped back and put his wand to his throat. "Attention, the Castle is under attack from forces loyal to Voldemort. For your own safety, all muggle-born students must come to the Great Hall immediately." He dropped his wand. "Ben, there is one last thing I need you to do."

"What?"

"Disarm me."

Ben blinked. "What?"

"Take my wand," Dumbledore said. "Yours is adequate, but my wand has certain properties that may be of value. However, it can only be taken from me by beating me. So, disarm me."

Confused but compliant, Ben stepped back and with a flick of his own wand said, "_Expelliarmus!_"

The wand jumped out of Dumbledore's hand and into his own. Immediately through the Force he could sense the energy signature of the wand shifting on its own to match his. This was completely different from the other wands he'd encountered.

"Then here," Ben said. He handed his old wand to the headmaster. "Just because you're not going to run doesn't mean you don't have to fight."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. To Sirius, he said, "I believe our colleagues in the Americas were willing to handle refugees."

"The international portkeys are at Grimmauld place," Black agreed. "We'll get them and their parents safe."

Just then the first students arrived. At their head were Ron and Ginny Weasley, and Susan Bones. "We're not going to be able to just hang around," Ron said. "Our family has already been targeted."

"Mine too," Susan said weakly. Her eyes were red—someone must have told her about her Aunt.

"They have indeed," Dumbledore said sadly. He ignored the others, stepped forward, and wrapped Susan in a brief hug. The seventh-year squeezed her eyes shut as a few tears trickled out. "I'm so sorry, my dear," he whispered.

There was no time for more comfort. He stepped back and surveyed all the students. "For the first time, I feel I cannot protect you all here. Therefore, Professor Black is to take everyone to the Chamber of Secrets where portkeys are waiting for you. They will take you to a safe place from where your families can be gathered and evacuated to safety."

One of the Ravenclaws was crying in terror. Ben recognized her as Tina Malloy, the first year who road in the boat with him. "It's going to be okay," he told her. "I'll go with you."

Many of the students heard that, and looked not at Black, but at Ben in hope. "I am so jealous," Sirius said. "All right, munchkins, let's get moving. Fast. Come on!"

He did not walk, he ran, and everyone else ran right behind him.

The Chamber of Secrets entrance was in, of all places, a girl's bathroom. As they entered, Sirius called out, "Lemon drops!" and the central sink rose into the air to expose a deep hole lined in stairs. "Everyone keep up!"

"Voldemort knows about the Chamber," Hermione suddenly said. "What if…?"

Somehow Ben ended up with the scroll. He handed it to Luna. "Watch this and catch up." He removed his lightsaber and Dumbledore's wand, and stepped casually into the hole, where he fell into the darkness.

Some of the students gasped and Tina Malloy actually cried. "He's okay," Luna assured her. "I can feel him. He's just making sure the way is clear." She nodded then to Sirius. "He says it's empty."

"Alright, kiddies," Sirius announced, "let's get moving!"

"Albus, it's not too late to flee," Minerva said. Overhead, a phoenix burst into the room in a ball of flame. It trilled a comforting song before alighting on Dumbledore's shoulder.

"There will be no more running," he said. He smiled at his long-time colleague. "The treatments stopped working, Minerva. Months was a generous estimate for me. If Tom has this victory, he may not be as aggressive in hunting the rest. He might even let you live." He looked at his co-workers, until finally his eyes settled on Slughorn. "Horace, be careful, my friend."

"I will," Slughorn said solemnly. "I'll play my part."

The other staff members walked to the staff table and sat. The air had assumed a pressure, like the bubble before a storm. Finally, the wards shattered. A gong-like sound reverberated through the grounds.

Dumbledore had seen Tom's new face only once—at the ministry of magic during his first unsuccessful coup attempt. It had a distinctly reptilian look to it. The bald, flat-faced creature stepped into the hall with long, flowing black robes. On his heels came a veritable army of Death Eaters, over a hundred strong.

Dumbledore stood in the center of the empty floor. The house tables were gone. Fawkes alit from his shoulder and circled in the around him.

Lord Voldemort stood just inside the door as his men spread out behind him. "You're not looking well, Albus," the Dark Lord said in a silky, sibilant voice.

"Probably something I ate," Dumbledore said. "You're looking frightful yourself, Tom."

"Probably something a victim ate, to be sure," Voldemort said with a nasty laugh. "I made your precious Minister scream for death. My minions used her for hours before I gave her release. Sometimes the old forms are so much better than a simple spell."

Behind them, McGonagall gasped but kept her mouth shut.

"So, where is your space wizard, Albus?" Voldemort said. He walked forward while his army stayed in their positions. His movements were both graceful, and suddenly frantic. "Where is this threat to my power? His wife is quite appealing. Fenrir—you remember him?—asked if he could eat her. I do believe the man was serious. Of course, others have already made that claim."

Dumbledore stood in stoic silence.

"Say something, Professor," Voldemort urged pleasantly. "Cajole me to give up my ways. Urge me to be reasonable. Say SOMETHING!"

The Dark Lord's wand whipped in a silent spell that brought the headmaster to his knees. A pained look crossed the old man's face, but then it stilled again. Overhead, the phoenix trilled a song that made Death Eaters wince. Voldemort ignored the song.

"What would you like me to say, Tom?" Dumbledore said. He spoke softly; he was short of breath. "That I failed you? I did. That I could have done more to save you? Perhaps. That I should have killed you as a child? Alas, I find I failed many times over the years."

"That's better," Voldemort said with a happy smile. He held out both hands in a twisted benediction. "How I love Hogwarts! It feels like I am coming home again. Only, now I am the master."

"Only a master of evil, Tom," Dumbledore said.

"How clichéd," Voldemort said. "I must say I am disappointed. I've looked forward to this day for so very long. But now that it has arrived, you just kneel there like a muggle, waiting for death. Where's your vaunted space wizard? Where is Black, or his Mudblood whore? In fact, where are your students?"

"The students are in their common rooms," Dumbledore said. "They've been instructed not to resist."

"That will make the culling much easier," the Dark Lord said.

"Only purebloods remain," the Headmaster said.

Voldemort froze. "What!" he hissed.

"Surely, Tom, you did not expect me to leave my students exposed to you, did you? Every muggle-born student has been evacuated, along with a few other students you or your people may have had interest in. Only the purebloods remain."

"You think they'll ever be safe from me?" Voldemort hissed. He rushed forward until he knelt just inches from the headmaster. "I have twenty Death Eaters waiting for them near your secret order headquarters. I don't need the secret keeper to stop them from entering. I'll have every one of them dead."

"You'll have twenty dead Death Eaters, more like," Dumbledore said. "Skywalker is the best I've seen. He says his father is better. If I were you, Tom, I'd be running."

"If I were you, I'd be dead by now!" Voldemort snarled. Any pretense at pleasantness fell away before an expression of maddening hatred. "_Crucio_!"

Dumbledore's face reddened in agony, but he did not scream.

"_Crucio!"_ Voldemort cried, throwing out spittle. "Scream, damn you! Scream!"

Dumbledore said nothing even as his face flushed.

"Aaaaggghhhh!" Voldemort roared in rage. "_Avada kedavra_!"

The sickly green spell struck the headmaster in the center of his chest. He flew backward at the sheer power of it, but he was dead before he hit the ground. At the faculty table, Minerva McGonagall covered her face with both hands and struggled to stem the tears.

Voldemort turned to his henchmen. "Search every house. We have the student listing from the ministry. Confirm if the mudbloods and blood traitors are gone. If you find any, kill them."

One of the Death Eaters bowed. "May we have fun in the process?"

"Oh yes," Voldemort smiled. "Enjoy yourselves. Do not touch the purebloods, though, or I will be displeased."

Half his forces left to do their bidding the Dark Lord stepped over the body of his fallen foe. "So," he said to the faculty table, once again assuming a pleasant smile on his hideous face, "let's talk about the future of Hogwarts."

The moment Ben alighted from the portkey, he knew they were in trouble.

The small park opposite Number 12 Grimmauld place was surrounded by Death Eaters. Behind him, he could hear as well as feel in the Force the arrival of the other students, and finally by the arrival of Black, Hermione, Susan Bones and the Weasleys.

Luna moved to his side as they looked at the wall of silver masks standing around them.

"If you try to resist," the leader of the Death Eaters said, "you'll simply make this more enjoyable. So feel free."

"Everyone down!" Ben roared. He pushed Luna down as well.

Twenty wands shot spells directly at him. He flew into the air and pulled not his lightsaber, but his blaster. His shot splattered the head of the nearest Death Eater over his neighbor. Still falling, Ben fired a second shot. He heard a shouted _Protego_ spell, but the power of the blaster bolt sheered through the magical shield. It definitely diluted the shot, but enough force remained to rip into the second Death Eater's chest and send them spinning away.

By then the eighteen remaining Death Eaters responded by scattering and firing spells at Ben. This momentary distraction gave Sirius, Hermione and the other senior students a chance to climb to their feet. "_Diffindo_!" Black roared, pushing power into the cutting spell and sending it through the back of a nearby Death Eater's head.

By his side, Hermione sent a banishing spell at another Death Eater.

Luna pointed at one Death Eater, summoned the Force and poured it into her magical core as she shouted, "_Confrigo_!" The blasting curse brimmed with such power it ripped through the dark witch's shield and struck her chest like Ben's blaster at full power. The witch did not scream because she had no lungs with which to make the sound as she collapsed spinelessly to the ground.

As Ben used both lightsaber and wand to great effect, Hermione Granger's classmates demonstrated the skills gained through four years of her tutelage in the Defense Association meetings. Susan Bones was using cutting and blasting curses with lethal effect while Ron and Ginny Weasley were equally effective with their fire and bludgeoning curses.

The Death Eaters, as if enthralled by the glowing blue length of Ben's saber, had difficulty paying attention to the fighters in their midst. What should have been a massacre in their minds turned into a route. Twenty fell to twelve, to eight, to three.

The last two disapparated.

"Wow!" Sirius crowed. He looked at the senior students who fought. "I don't care if Hermione organized and taught the DA or not, I am the DADA professor and I'm taking credit for your NEWT scores!"

Ben rejoined them by giving Luna a lingering kiss. "You okay?"

"I am," she assured him. "They'll be back."

"She's right, Sirius," Hermione said. "We need to get everyone inside, now!"

"All right, the house is under a Fidelius Charm," Sirius said. "We are going to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Come on."

Only as he said it did the house appear on the street. Ignoring the traffic and the dead bodies laying openly in the middle of the day, they ran across and entered the house.

The children eyed the house nervously as Sirius led them through the maze of hallways into the largest sitting room. A fire was already blazing. Sirius threw a handful of floo power in. "Secretary Harlest's Office, American Department of Magic!"

A face emerged from the fire. "Secretary Harlest's Office, how may I direct your call?"

"Sirius Black, British Order of the Phoenix, with a priority call for Secretary Harlest. I need her on the floo now!"

A moment later, an older woman's face appeared. "Black, what is happening over there? Our ambassador has been ordered to leave."

"Voldemort has taken the ministry and Hogwarts," Black said. "Minister Bones and most senior department heads are either dead, or loyal to Voldemort. Harlest, we need to request asylum for our muggle-born students until this is over."

"Don't send them by floo, they could be intercepted," Harlest said.

"I have portkeys. We'll be sending family members as well—the rest of the Order is gathering them as we speak."

"We'll keep them safe," the American secretary of magic said.

"Thank you!"

"Good luck, Black."

The face retreated back into the fire. Black removed a collection of books from the mantle over the fire place. "All right, first years go first. Everyone come here and grab this book."

They heard a knock at the door. Ben's hand reached for his lightsaber, though he felt no danger in the Force. "The other family members," Hermione muttered.

He went with her just to be safe, but when they opened the door it was Kingsley Shacklebolt with a group of stunned and frightened Muggle parents. "Inside, please," the auror said. Ben noticed the man was bleeding.

"Are you injured?" Ben asked as the six parents walked in.

"I barely made it out of the DMLE," Shacklebolt said. "Moody bought Tonks and I some time."

"And Moody?"

Kingsley shook his head. "Took a lot of them with him, though."

Moments later a short, plump woman named Hestia Jones Ben recognized from his last stay at Grimmauld entered with still more parents, and a pair of young magical siblings not yet at Hogwarts. Just minutes later, while Sirius continued to send students to the Americas, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks arrived with a large group of families, followed in intervals by, Arthur and Molly Weasley and all of their adult children, a pair of older gentlemen named Sturgis Podmore and Elphias Doge with a terrified muggle couple between them, and finally Dedalus Diggle accompanying a young mother with two children clinging in terror by her side.

"Where's Fletcher?" Kingsley called from the hall.

"Dead," Diggle answered. "Where's Moody?"

"Same."

"What about Hagrid?" Hermione asked.

"Dead," someone answered. "Killed by giants in the Forbidden Forest."

"Where's Emmeline Vance?" Diggle said.

"We lost contact with her before the ministry fell," Shacklebolt said. "I think she may have been the first to fall."

Finally, the last of the students and their frantic families were safely evacuated to the Americas. They tried making another floo call, but were unable to get through.

"That's it for the floo, then," Black said. "Looks like Voldemort's people have locked the network down."

Eventually, the Order members moved to take seats around the room for an impromptu meeting. The only Weasley to leave with the students across the pond was Ginny, and at that it took her father and older brother Bill pushing her to place a hand on the portkey. The rest remained, along with Susan Bones.

"Dumbledore is most certainly dead," Sirius began. Beside him, Hermione made a sobbing sound but did not speak. "But the mission remains. There are two horcruxes left, and Albus was certain one of them was Helga Hufflepuff's cup. But there is another task he assigned as well."

He looked at Ben. "We need to get to Nicolas Flamel," Ben said.

The oldest member there, Elphias Doge, snorted. "Good luck there, child. Nicolas is on his deathbed and glad of it, from what I understand."

"Can you take us there?" Luna asked.

Ben blinked. "Us?"

"Do you think I'll let you go alone?" Luna asked. She did not blink.

Ben's cheeks reddened. "I really should fight you on this."

She leaned over and kissed him. "Go ahead, Love."

Sirius snorted. "Not married a month and the boy's already whipped."

"Sirius, shush," Hermione said.

He snapped his mouth shut, and the whole room chuckled. Sirius grinned sheepishly.

"Well," Doge said, "I can take you there. But I can't guarantee he'll agree to see you."

"We'll do what we have to," Ben said resolutely.

"What about Hufflepuff's cup?" Hermione said. "It's been lost for decades."

Bill Weasley shrugged. "If you were a pureblood family and wanted to keep an heirloom safe, where would you put it?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "Gringotts?"

"That doesn't narrow it down much," Charlie noted. "There are a lot of vaults."

Luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It is in the vault across from the Lovegood vault."

Every order member turned and stared at her. Ben, however, was nodding. "That shadow we felt in the Force?"

"It's the horcrux," Luna said.

"How can you tell for sure?" Hermione said. "There are lots of dark magical artifacts."

"It was not alive, but it had a Force signature," Ben said. "I didn't realize it at the time, but I do now. It was a soul fragment."

Bill was scowling. "Across from the Lovegood…if I'm not mistaken, I think that's the Lestrange vault," he said. His eyes widened.

"You mean the same Lestranges who are among Voldemort's most ardent and fanatical followers?" Ron said.

"Ardent?" Fred said. He looked at his twin. "Did ickle Ronnikans just use a big word?"

"Oiy, he said fanatical too," George said.

"In the same sentence!" the two crowed.

Ron blushed angrily. "Shut it, you two!"

"Still, it is impressive for you, Ron," Hermione said with a weak smile.

"It almost makes me want to kick him in the nads," Susan said.

The adult members of the order shook their heads in confusion, but those in the know laughed appreciatively. "So, how best to get the cup?" Sirius asked.

"It was my task," Hermione said. She looked around. "Wouldn't mind a little help, though."

"Well, it'll have to be an inside job," Bill said. "Wonder who we could find working for Gringotts who could help?"

"I do wonder," Charlie added.

"What about the rest of us?" Diggle said.

"We do what we can," Sirius said. "Open conflict isn't going to solve anything with numbers stacked so badly against us. Those of us who can, go back to your jobs. Lay low. Dedalus, no one else knows you're a part of the Order. Same for you, Hestia. Sturgis, same goes for you. Show up at the ministry for your job, and do what you're told. You all have your order coins."

"Not all of us," Hermione reminded him. She looked at Ben.

"Oiy, that's right," Black said. He reached into his pocket and threw a galleon at Ben.

"It has a Protean Charm on it," Hermione said. "It can be used to summon other order members or send brief messages. Don't spend it."

Ben smiled as he slipped it into his pocket. "I'll try to resist any plum ice cream I see."

"It's still daylight," Sirius said. "It feels like it should be later, but we've not even passed noon yet. Everyone get a bite to eat, and then we'll be on our way."


	20. The Squib From Cupar

**Chapter Twenty: The Squib From Cupar**

"That could be a problem," Elphias Doge noted as he, Ben and Luna stood on the front porch of 12 Grimmauld place with brooms in their hands.

The old wizard apparently had a gift for understatement.

Evidently, Notice-Me-Not spells either had a statute of limitations, or simply did not work on dead bodies.

The park was crawling with muggle police and more, all of whom were attempting to examine and collect the bodies of the fallen death eaters. Some of the uniforms looked very similar to the soldiers Ben saw around his ship the day after he landed.

However, standing at intervals, unnoticed despite the activity, stood dozens and dozens of living Death Eaters. Ben was able to spot over fifty at least. All of them were staring across the street. None knew exactly where the house was, but there were enough of them not to worry about missing it if anyone were to suddenly emerge from nowhere.

"Wish I had my ship," Ben muttered. "Brooms are nice and all, but my swoop has a laser cannon on it."

"Well, what'll it be, boy?" Doge said. "Minerva spread the word about your muggle spaceship. So what do you want to get first: Flamel, or your ship?"

Ben bowed his head. "What are you thinking, Ben?" Luna asked.

"I'm thinking what a wonderful thing it would be to have a modified laser cannon right now," he said. "Or even just an e-web. And if I could get my emergency beacon activated, when we get this spell down, he'll be able to pinpoint me even if he's whole sectors away."

"Doesn't matter to me either way," Doge said. "Just know the moment we take off, those Death Eater's are going to by following us."

"That's why I'm going first," Ben said. "After I've distracted them, I want you and Luna to start heading north."

"You're going to the muggle base, then?" Doge said.

Ben nodded. "If I can get my swoop, I can have us in the other side of the country in less than an hour."

Doge said. "Doesn't matter to me. I'm a hundred and eighty years old. Frankly I should have died decades ago."

Luna leaned up and planted a firm kiss on Ben's cheek. "Good luck," she said.

"Thanks."

He mounted the broom and gripped his lightsaber in his right hand. He took a deep breath, centered himself in the Force, and launched.

He did not fly into the air. He flew just inches from the ground directly across the street, into the middle of the unseeing police and soldiers, directly toward the Death Eaters. With a flash of his blade, Ben cut three dark wizards down, turned in an angle so tight he almost fell, and launched against more. Police and soldiers brought guns to bear when a body toppled in their midst, but they couldn't see anything to shoot at. They heard the sound of Ben's saber, and then saw another black-robed figure fall dead to the ground sans head or limbs.

All the Death Eaters carried heavy Muggle repellant and Notice-Me-Not charms that kept the living ones essentially invisible. For Ben, his broom itself carried equally powerful charms.

Forensics personnel scattered in fear as more bodies fell and strange lights flashed through the air.

While slicing with his saber, Ben saw a line of Death Eaters grouping together. He risked lifting his other hand from his broom, and like his wife earlier poured Force energy into his magical core, and in turn sent it through his wand while shouting "_Confrigo_!"

Muggles screamed in terror when a jet of white-hot fire flashed across the park. Where before the muggles saw only a park bench, when the fire passed they saw ten flaming men screaming in agony as they fell dead to the ground.

Across the street, Doge whistled appreciatively. "Some young man you have there. Fancy that sword of his. Think we should go?"

"I think we should," Luna said. The two launched into the air.

Unfortunately, three of the Death Eaters were specifically under orders to ignore the first person to emerge. They saw the second two wizards launch into the air and did the same with their own brooms.

Luna looked over when Doge straightened on his broom and gave her a quizzical expression. "Well, there you go. You brag about being too old and then…." He fell from his broom. As he did so, Luna saw the blackened hole in his back.

Another spell whizzed past her cheek. She dove down back toward London and flew almost at street level. Her boots skimmed the tops of lorries and busses. People did not see her or her three pursuers, but they definitely noticed the effects of spells impacting against walls, cars or sidewalks.

She could not say how long she flew with the three Death Eaters right on the bristles of her broom. She sank herself into the moment. She realized on some level that she was drawing on the Force to guide her actions, though she had never called what she could do the "Force" before Ben. She could feel and hear the growing frustration of the wizards behind her.

A bludgeoning spell shot past her shoulder, directly into the window of a bus. The red, double-decker bus swerved and tipped over as its front windshield shattered and the driver's face collapsed in on itself.

"I can't let anyone else be hurt," Luna said to herself.

She cleared the narrow street and pulled up on the haft of her broom and came to an abrupt halt.

The three Death Eaters shot past her. One in fact clipped her shoulder and sent her spinning to the street. That particular Death Eater went into an uncontrolled spin and slammed with bone-crushing force into a tree across the street where she stopped.

Luna slammed to the pavement with a startled cry while her broom fell several feet away. Free of her broom, she looked up just in time to see a car squealing its brakes in a vain effort not to hit her. Be it the Force or just luck, Luna managed to jump just enough to avoid the bumper, and instead rolled across the hood and into the window of the small car.

She rolled back off with a thud to the ground. Almost immediately the driver jumped out. "Blimey, you 'right?"

Luna looked up at a plump muggle teenager with pink-dyed hair, two nose rings and tattoo of a scantily clad woman hanging onto the pants leg of a large black bald man just above the low-cut line of her amply-filled t-shirt.

Ahead, the two Death Eaters slid off their brooms in the park and walked toward her. Their silver masks gleamed in the afternoon sun, but none of the muggles could see them.

"Someone call 112!" the teen girl yelled at the growing ring of spectators.

Luna slowly pushed herself to her feet. By then a sizable crowd had become to gather. The secrecy act right now was less important to her than the two Death Eaters walking toward her with raised wands.

"I'm very sorry," Luna said to the teen-ager without looking away from the on-coming threat. "But there are a two men over there who are about to start shooting at me. If you would like not to die today, you and your friends may wish to run now."

The teen-ager gaped. People behind her gasped.

The Death Eaters fired.

"_Protego!_" Luna said. She could not spare the energy or time to charm herself as she raised her magical shield. To the muggles around her, it appeared as if a golden dome formed in front of her, only to be splashed with thick purple bursts of light.

The muggle girl started cursing inventively as she dove for cover behind her car. The other muggles screamed in fear and scattered as another round of spells shot toward Luna. She spun away from them and summoned her fire spell. White fire shot like a light from her wand. Both wizards raised protective shields. One was more powerful than the other.

The weaker wizard screamed briefly before the fire consumed him. To muggle eyes, a flaming corpse appeared out of thin air in the center of Arnold Circus. The second man also appeared, forced by Luna's fire to divert magical energy from his Notice-Me-Not charms to his shield.

The second wizard dropped his shield when the fire ended. Around them, Muggles watched in terror.

"You're going to pay for that, girl!" a man's deep voice roared.

Suddenly five streaks of green light slammed into the dark wizard's body from above. They exploded on impact, taking both the body and the dirt around it out in plumes of fire.

Luna sagged with relief as Ben dropped from the sky to the street before her and holstered his blaster. He dropped his broom, rushed to her and pulled her into a hug. "By the Force, I thought I lost you!" he cried.

"I'm sure I'm quite alright," Luna said with a blink of her silver eyes. "Did you lose them?"

"I sent them East," Ben said.

Only then did the two of them become aware of at least fifty sets of eyes staring at them from all around. "Bloody 'ell," the teen said as she slowly emerged from her car. "What the 'ell are you?"

"I'm a space witch!" Luna said. "Move along now. Nothing to see here."

She summoned her broom back to her hand, as did Ben. The moment they mounted, they disappeared to Muggle eyes and shot back into the air. "Elphias died," Luna said sadly.

"I'm sorry," Ben said. "Where do we go from here?"

Luna slowed until they floated over northern London. "Point me Ben's Spaceship!"

The wand spun around in her palm twice before settling on a point north and slightly to the east. "That's where we go."

"Nice spell," Ben muttered. "Don't think Hermione taught me that one."

"And she thinks she's a teacher!" Luna said, scandalized.

The two bent down and sent their brooms soaring into the sky.

They flew non-stop through the afternoon and well into the early evening. Clouds rolled in from the west on the cusp of a cold fall wind. Rain came in sudden, unexpected bursts that faded just as quickly. Both were soaked through entirely.

"Ben, I need to stop," Luna finally said. He looked over and saw her sagging over her broom and shivering despite mutual warming charms. He was exhausted himself and nodded. "We'll find some place to eat," he said.

"I believe that is Edinburgh ahead," she said as she nodded to a large collection of lights ahead of them. "The professor's brother lives there. They have a small magical community."

"Do you think it's safe?"

"I don't have any muggle money," she admitted. "And we never got her brother's name or where he lived."

"Okay," he said.

Magical Edinburgh existed in what the Muggles saw as a large open field just west of Corniston Road on the South side of the city. It was a respectable collection of houses and shops not dissimilar from Hogsmeade.

They found an inn called the Hoarshead and, making sure to secure their brooms with a set of Notice-me-not wards, they started in. Right before the door, though, Luna stopped. "Goodness me," she whispered. She turned to Ben and with a flick of her wand banished all of his Hogwarts badges from his robes. He understood and did the same thing for her. Only then did they step inside.

The room had a low-slung ceiling with dim, cozy lighting. It was fairly crowded with Scottish witches and wizards, and the whole lot of them turned to stare at Luna and Ben as they entered.

The woman behind the bar stood over six feet tall. "What can I get you two, Quine?" The woman said. Or at least, that's what Ben thought she said.

"Hello," Luna said absently. "We were hoping for a room and dinner."

"Right then," the woman said. "Where's your maw, Quine?"

"I'm sure she's dead," Luna said.

The tall barmaid blinked. "Sorry ter hair dat. Got stovies ready, and a room."

The conversation in the rest of the tavern quieted a little, though Ben heard the word "Sassenach" and was sure it was directed at them.

"Stovies" proved to be corned beef with potatoes and onions. It was plain, but warm and filling after their increasingly cold and damp flight. They ate in silence with their backs to the nearest wall where Ben could watch the door.

There was a feeling of tension in the room that put Ben on edge. He couldn't help but think they were being watched with more than just idle curiosity. Then it dawned on him—the articles in the papers contained wizarding photos. Most of the magical world knew their faces.

Just as they were finishing their meal and trying to figure out whether to flee or not, a tall, hard-faced Scotsman sat down at their table. He wore his tartan and kilt like wizards wore robes—with a level of comfort and familiarity few could achieve. "You two look lost," he said. He spoke without the thick brogue of the barmaid. In fact, he sounded faintly like Professor McGonagall.

"I'm fairly certain I know where we are," Luna said.

"Perhaps," the man said. "Question being, why? If I were, say, a young couple on the run, I'd not want to stay here or any other public magical place."

"If you were a young couple, you would be two people," Luna said.

Ben smiled. "Thank you for the warning, we're not on the run," he said.

"Actually, Ben, I think you are," the man said.

Ben's eyes narrowed. Luna blinked. "You know Pr…."

The man shushed her. "Let's call her Minnie," he said. "My sister. She spread the word to keep a look out. I've been popping in and out of the three taverns in town all day. Problem as I see it, I'm not the only one looking. There are purebloods in Scotland too."

Ben opened himself wholly to the Force, and he did not like what he felt. "Do you have any suggestions?" he asked.

"Pay for your room, ward the door best you can, then climb out a window," the man said softly. "Get back to Corniston Road and wait for me at the corner of Corniston and Riselaw."

They both nodded. The man stood up and shook his head. "Ya shudn'a been hair," he said loudly in a much thicker brogue.

The young couple exchanged a long look, and then went back to the barmaid to pay for their room and meal. Even before they were completely up the stairs, Ben felt people stirring in the tavern. "This was a bad idea," he muttered.

"I know," Luna agreed.

She turned and immediately started casting wards on the door. Ben looked out the window. Their room was on the second floor. Directly below was a narrow alley. He glanced over his shoulder, nodded to his wife, and dropped the two stories to land softly in the mud. He reached out with the Force until he felt Luna in his mental grip, and lowered her gently into his arms.

"I love you," she said as he cradled her for a moment. She placed both arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

"I love you too," he said as he put her down.

They grabbed their brooms, and began flying down the alley just inches above the ground away from the inn until they were far enough away to risk flying higher.

Making it to Corniston Road was easy enough—it was a large thoroughfare into the city proper. They hovered along just out of the reach of the streetlamps until they reached Riselaw Crescent. Followed by Riselaw Place. Followed by Riselaw Rd.

"For the brother of a professor, he gave very poor instructions," Luna noted.

They finally chose the northern-most Riselaw, Riselaw Road, and settled down at a nearby bus stop. They had only to wait ten minutes before a small red mini-Cooper drove up to the road. McGonagall's brother leaned out the window. "A sorry looking couple you are," he said. "Hop on in. Hope you don't mind riding in another's lap."

"We're newlyweds," Luna said brightly. "I love being in Ben's lap!"

"Yeah, read about that I did," the man said. "Name's Sean."

"Ben Skywalker," Ben said as he sat in the passenger side of the two-seater. Luna climbed in and snuggled on his lap and closed the door. "Luna Lovegood Skywalker," she said. "A pleasure to meet you, I'm sure."

"Sure indeed," Sean McGonagall said with a laugh. "Settle back, it's going to take an hour or so to get to Cupar."

"Are you a member of the Order?" Luna asked.

She and Ben both smiled when they saw the fake galleon in the man's hands. "Have enough magic to live a good, long life, with a spot of intuition that's seen me through some tight spots. But this close to Hogwarts, it's good to have friends in the muggle world."

Luna sneezed suddenly. "My goodness," she said. "I must have a flumdinger in my nose."

"Looks like a cold to me," Sean said.

"That's what I said," Luna blinked back. She shivered suddenly. "It is cold, though."

Ben reached a hand under her long, blonde hair and pulled her down to her shoulder. After some coaching from Sean he figured out how to adjust the seat and leaned it back. "Just rest," Ben said to Luna.

"You do make a nice pillow," she said. She yawned and shivered at the same time. "And you keep the nargles away."

"Always," Ben said as he smiled down at her. Without even consciously thinking about it, he began funneling Force healing toward her. She visible sighed and relaxed as she drifted off into a deep, healing sleep.

"Beautiful child there," Sean said softly.

"She is," Ben said. "She's even more beautiful inside than out."

"And you're married?"

"We didn't mean to," Ben whispered softly. "But when it happened, I realized it was the right thing to do. It was as if I could see a whole new color I never knew existed. Now that I have her, I couldn't imagine living without her."

"I understand," Sean said. "Feel the same way 'bout my lady. I know Minerva did too about her man, poor lass."

Ben sensed there was a story there, but didn't ask. Instead, he closed his own eyes and allowed Luna's weight and the gentle scent of plums to pull him down into sleep as well.

"Why, they're only children!"

Ben started awake, and only then realized they had stopped. Mr. McGonagall knelt down beside the young couple. "Lad, we're here. Wake up."

"Where?" Ben asked. Luna did not stir at all on his chest.

"My house. Let's get you inside. I tried waking your lass, but…."

Ben touched her with the Force. "She was hurt in London when we escaped," he said with a pang. "She tried hiding it, I guess. But I've sent her into a healing trance. Is there a place we can rest?"

"Inside, lad," he said. Ben became aware of a woman standing behind him. She appeared to be in her sixties, with short, bobbed silver hair.

"Help him with the lass, Sean," the woman said.

"It's okay," Ben said. "I can carry her."

He climbed out of the car and kept Luna tightly in his embrace. He did not even require the Force to do so. Although she was heavier than her ethereal appearance sometimes hinted at, she was still not heavy to the young Jedi.

"Well, come on, then," the woman said as she led the way into the front door of one of several two story homes lining a narrow street.

The interior of the home was completely different than Grimmauld place. For one thing, it was well lit with electric lights. A television sat in one corner with a two-dimensional image with sound playing on it. It appeared to be a news report. As the kindly couple led Ben to a thickly upholstered sofa, he got a better glimpse at the images. He saw the words, "Terror of London" and realized the story was discussing the battles.

"Minerva wasn't able to tell me everything," Sean McGonagall said as he settled into a sofa opposite where Ben held Luna. The woman sat next to him.

"My name is Marie," she said. "Sean's wife."

"A pleasure to meet you," Ben said. "Thank you for allowing us to rest here."

"Ben," Sean said, "what's happening in London?"

"Voldemort has taken the ministry and Hogwarts," Ben said.

The woman looked a little confused, and it took only a glimpse in the Force to know she was completely muggle. "Ministry? That's not what the news said. And …"

"Magic, Marie," Sean said. "The Ministry for Magic is the magical government. And Voldemort is as evil a wizard as you could ask." He looked back to Ben. "And Minerva?"

"She stayed behind when Hogwarts fell," Ben said. "The war's not over, but the battle is. For now, Voldemort is in control of all the magical community. Professor Dumbledore seemed to think he would be targeting muggle-borns."

"Sean, does he mean…?"

"Allana and Finnigan," Mr. McGonagall confirmed. He looked at Ben. "Our two daughters were born muggles, but my grandchildren are both magical. It happens sometimes, when the magic skips a few generations. They're too young for Hogwarts, but when they come of age…"

Ben nodded his understanding.

Suddenly Luna stirred. It was not quite a moan, but definitely a sound to express her displeasure at waking. She snuggled into him a little hard, but then sniffed. She sat up abruptly. "Do I smell plums?"

"It's only an air fresher, love," Marie McGonagall said.

Only then did she look around and see their hosts. "Oh, hello," she said brightly. "Where am I?"

"Mr. McGonagall's house," Ben said.

Luna slid off his lap and onto the couch beside him, though she made sure to maintain as much contact as possible. "It is a very nice house," she said. She yawned. "Sad about the plums, though. So, when are we going to storm the muggle air force base and steal your ship back?"

"Ship?" Marie McGonagall asked.

Her husband, though, simply sat and stared at Ben. "So all that rubbish in the papers is true?" he asked. "You really are from another world?"

"Yes," Ben said.

"And I'll have you know that my article on Ms. Skeeter was not rubbish at all," Luna said. "Every word was true."

Sean shook his head. "Sometimes I forget what a strange world it really is."

"I don't understand," Marie said.

"It's simple, really," Luna explained. "I am a very powerful witch. I made a wish that someone could come and make things better. My magic reached into the stars and pulled Ben here. And we fell in love and had a magical marriage, of course. But now we need to get his ship so he can get some flurbogasers and geewhizzes and help us fight the dark wizard that wants to kill all muggle-born wizards and eventually wipe the muggles out completely."

"Laser cannons and e-webs," Ben corrected, though he was smiling into her hair when he said it.

"I'm sure that's what I said," Luna looked back at him with a straight face. However, in their connection he could feel her mirth.

"I love you," he said.

"I'm sure you do," she said back. Then she leaned over and kissed him.

They both turned and looked back at Marie McGonagall. "You mean you're married?" was all she could say.


	21. The Boy and His Toys

**Chapter Twenty-One: The Boy and His Toys**

"Well, here's what I found out," Bill Weasley said. He held up a hand. "Flagrante curse." He pulled one finger down. "Geminio curse." He pulled a second finger down. "Dragon." He pulled the third down. "And that's atop the normal security for the bank."

Hermione sank down on the couch. "I was so hoping it would be a big dog and a few word puzzles," she said.

"Goblins don't play nice," Bill said. "They don't want to capture potential thieves, they want to kill them in as painful a fashion as possible."

"Well," Black said as he took a swig of firewhiskey, "I see sitting in my parlor a Gringotts employee and a dragon handler. Add to that the brightest witch of her age, and I'm wondering what the problem is?"

"I hate to say this," Hermione said, "but the easiest way to get there would be to _imperio_ one of the Lestranges and make them go in."

"Rabastan is dead," Sirius said. "Died at Hogsmead. I believe Rudolphus is also dead. But I'm not sure. That leaves the worst of them all—my dear cousin Bellatrix."

"You wouldn't know where dear cousin was, would you?" Hermione asked.

"I don't, but frankly it wouldn't matter," Sirius said. "A strong will can fight off the Imperius curse, 'Mione. You know that. She's a fanatic. She'll shrug it off easily."

"There's another way," Bill said.

They all turned and looked at him. "But," he added, "it involves Sirius giving you your birthday gift a bit early."

Hermione frowned and looked up. "Birthday gift?"

"Kind of slipped my mind," the older wizard said. "It's really two parts." He reached into his pocket and removed a large, golden skeleton key brimming with charms. "First, I was going to give you the key to the Black Family vault, so that you could go with me and pick out a wedding ring you liked. Assuming, of course, that you wanted to."

Hermione was still staring at the key. "You were going to…."

"Yes," Sirius said. "Not because you took care of me after Azkaban like no other could. Not because you're the brightest, most beautiful witch of your age. But because I love you like I never thought I could. And if you'll have me and all my many imperfections, I was hoping I could be your husband."

It would have the perfect romantic moment, if not for the fact that George and Fred Weasley were in the room.

"Fred, I'm going to cry," George said.

"George, I'm going to cry," Fred said.

They turned and looked at the stunned Hermione and pantomimed tears. "Most beautiful thing…" one began, "we've ever seen," the other finished.

"What does this have to do with getting to the Lestranges vault?" Hermione asked.

Sirius actually turned faintly purple.

"Oh," Hermione said. "OH!" She stood, wrapped the man in a hug and then kissed him so hard and so deeply the four Weasleys in the room blushed to their roots. She pulled back and grinned. "And yes, Sirius Black, I would love to be your wife."

Ben and Luna did not mean to spend the whole night with the McGonagalls. However, after being shown to a room with a comfortable bed and a loo with a shower, the two realized they were simply not fit for any further activities.

"So, how long have you been married?" Marie asked as she walked them up the stairs to the guest room.

"What day is it?" Ben asked.

"It's Thursday."

Ben tallied the days. "We bonded the first Monday morning in October," he said.

"It's been a week and a half," Luna said.

"And no honeymoon?" Marie said.

"I had Dean Thomas's brains blown all over my face the day before," Luna said. Her eyes took on a far-away look. "And Ben here had his stomach ripped out. Thought he was going to die. Thought my knight was going to leave me. But my magic made it better. Still, put a damper on honeymoon plans."

Marie stuttered. "God, child, what is happening in that world of yours?"

"War," Ben said simply.

"But you're just children."

"Yes," Ben agreed.

Marie turned the bed down. "Well, there's no war here tonight. You two get some sleep, and in the morning Sean will help you as much as we can."

Luna nodded, then impulsively reached up and hugged the older woman. "Thank you for your kindness."

Maria nodded. "You're welcome, Lass. Now, you and your man get some sleep." She left and closed the door behind her.

Luna handled the wards, being one area where Ben did not receive more than a rudimentary lesson. He did, however, put silencing charms on the bed and walls. "Come here," he said when they were done.

She meekly walked to him. He removed the scroll first and placed it on a night table. Then he turned his attention back to her and stared to slide her robes off. It was a tender gesture, and not erotic at all. He was looking for injuries that had not healed. "You took a hard tumble," he said as he traced the large bruise on her shoulder. He helped her lift her arms to remove the shirt she wore under the robes.

Luna winced. "It was somewhat unpleasant," she agreed. She tried to reach back to unclasp her bra, but stopped with a grimace.

"Turn around, I'll do it," Ben said.

She smiled knowingly. "I'm sure you will." However, she turned around. "Your shoulder looks worse from here," he said sadly. He unclasped her bra, and she let it fall to the floor.

He continued to unclothe her until she stood nude before him. "That hip looks like it hurts."

"The muggle automobile hit me," Luna said.

"And your knees. That has to hurt."

"The trance helped a little."

He looked up and saw tears in her eyes. "Luna?"

"I'm sure I'm okay," she said, though her voice trembled.

Through their bond, he felt her fear and sadness. The brief respite from horror that marked their bonding was long gone. Now, all she could behold was pain and loss.

His hands were on her. They caressed her with love, but no actual need. They were there for the basic, instinctual comfort provided by touch. Through his touch, he poured healing and love into her with such power and warmth it overwhelmed her.

He stopped only long enough to pull his own clothes off, then stood. She felt his power wrap itself around her body and lift her cleanly from the floor. He did not touch anything but her hand, but with the Force levitated her to the bed.

She lay facing the door, on her good hip. Ben walked around the bed and climbed in beside her, spooning against her body. He was warm and comforting. She could feel his desire, but he did not move to act on it. Rather, he gently wrapped one arm around her waist, snuck another under the pillow holding her head, and held her so close their bodies were almost one.

"I love you," he whispered.

"And I never tire of hearing that," Luna smiled.

"Sleep. I'll keep you safe tonight."

"I know."

She closed her eyes as his heeling power soaked gently into her body, and let sleep come.

When Ben woke the next morning, he had the strangest sense of déjà vu. He was in a strange bed with a beautiful girl lying naked by his side. Her hand was across his chest, her face nuzzled against his chest.

He looked down at her, and smiled. "My space witch," he whispered.

He felt her body tense against his as she stretched, and the hand slowly began creeping down his chest.

This time, he did not jump out of bed. Rather, he smiled and said, "Good morning."

"It is, isn't it?"

Her hand reached its destination. "I feel better," she whispered. She pulled herself deftly on top of him. "And to think we could have been doing this since the morning after you crashed."

"What was I thinking?" Ben said.

An hour later, the two walked down the stairs to the still unfamiliar house. The day outside was grey and wet. "There ye are!" Marie McGonagall said. "I hope you had…." She paused.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked.

"She's…" The older woman shook her head. "She looks much better this morning."

"It's Ben's alien healing powers," Luna whispered loudly. "Sex with him makes everything better."

Nearby, poor Sean McGonagall spewed coffee all over his paper.

"Ohh, coffee!" Luna said in open adoration. "May I have some?"

"Of course, dear," a flustered Marie said.

Luna rushed to the counter and took the creamer. She poured half a cup of creamer into a coffee cup. She then poured three large, heaping spoonfuls of sugar into the creamer. Finally, she poured about a quarter of a cup of coffee in, and stirred it.

All three stared. "Yes?" she said, blinking.

Ben smiled with a shake of his head. "Thank you again, Mrs. McGonagall, for letting us stay. It was very generous of you."

"Not every day you get to house a witch and an alien."

"Or an alien who is also a wizard," Luna said over her barely warm coffee-flavored creamer.

"So," Sean said as he folded and discarded the ruined paper, "what is your plan for getting into the annex?"

"A disillusionment spell," Ben said. "We walk in, grab it, and walk out."

"Pretty sure thermal sensors would pick up even a disillusioned wizard," Sean said.

"Really?" Luna sipped her creamer. "How very odd. I didn't know muggles had devices like that."

"My family are muggles," Sean said.

"And they are a wonderful family too," Luna said. "And you make the most wonderful coffee."

Ben knew what the other man was trying to say. "Luna, I think they object to the term muggle."

"I suppose we could make an acronym for them, then," she said brightly. "I do so love acronyms. Hermione created one called Society for the Protection of Elf Welfare. SPEW. Is that not just delightful? Perhaps BWM for Beings Without Magic, or PWM for People Without Magic, if you want to use people instead of beings."

"Back to the question at hand," Ben said, "there's another method that I know your technology cannot detect. The morning after I crashed, Luna and I went with another friend to investigate the site. I was able to hide us from the soldiers."

"And once you get to the ship, what then? Are you going to just fly away?"

"I wish we could," Ben said. "However I burned out all the propulsion systems when I landed. No, I'm looking for a swoop—it's like a technological version of a broom, but it's militarized and so has weapons. Plus there's a beacon that could help my father find me."

"No, he's not coming to invade," Luna said. "We've had that question a lot."

"I bet ye have," Marie said. She put a plate with a pastry before each of them. "Tottie scones. Good start to a day."

They were indeed very good.

It did not take even twenty minutes to reach RAF Leuchars. Ben and Luna squeezed back into the min-Cooper with their brooms and watched the green but dreary countryside as they drove up toward Leuchars.

"I don't think you should try driving into the actual base," Ben said as they turned onto the main street into the base. "We can fly in without any risk to you or your family. If they're anything like the military from my…world, I guess you'd say, you don't want to antagonize them."

"No, you don't," Sean said. They slowed as they approached a bus station. "The annex is about two miles directly north of the base. Follow the coast and you'll find it. It's essentially just a hangar surrounded by razor wire and electrified fencing." He took a breath. "Look you too," he said, "I can't say I know everything that's going on. But Minnie spoke very highly of you both. Be careful, okay?"

"We will," Ben said. "Thank you for all of your help."

"Yes, thank you," Luna said. She leaned over and kissed Sean's cheek. "Your wife is the nicest BWM I've ever met."

"I'll wager she's the only one you've ever met," Sean said.

"True, but that does not mean she's not the nicest," Luna said.

She climbed out, and Ben followed. Then they pulled out their brooms. Fortunately, it was late enough in the morning that the station was empty. They waited until Sean turned the car around and was out of sight before they mounted and lifted into the air.

RAF Leuchars was nestled adjacent to the Eden Estuary just south of the Firth of Tay. Though the sky was steel gray and cold rain fell around them, Ben could not help but enjoy the greenness of the land, and the life that thrummed through it. As primitive as this world was, he could feel that this was an ancient land that sung with Force power.

Luna reached across the space between then and he took her hand without hesitation.

Finally they flew over the base staying very close to each other and far away from the runways. Ben watched with the same avid interest as Luna as fighters took off and landed. From Luna's perspective, they appeared to be very large, loud and intimidating. From Ben's perspective, they were wasteful and poorly designed. He doubted most of the craft could even make it past the speed of sound, and had no doubt they were not capable of leaving the atmosphere.

"Point me Ben's space ship!" Luna said.

Her wand spun around until it pointed north of the base, and they continued flying along the coast for another two miles until they came to a small crop of hangars just inland from the sea. There were no runways, nor any indication that it was a military base save for the high razor wire.

As they approached, Ben could see tightened security around the outcropping of buildings. There were two checkpoints leading to the buildings, and then a line of razor-wire topped fences, followed by a second line of fencing. Within the fences he could see at least three patrols with four-legged animals.

Finally there was a large checkpoint at the entrance of the largest building.

"That's where it is," Ben said with certainty.

"Let's go, then," Luna said.

They dropped silently toward the ground just to the side of the building checkpoint. He folded the two of them into the Force and walked toward the door. There were two guards on station there, and they were not bored place keepers. They were attentive and kept their eyes open and alert.

They had to wait ten minutes, but finally someone stepped out of the door. Ben gave the weighted door a push with the Force to keep it open just long enough for he and Luna to get in. A guard almost immediately stepped to it and pulled it shut behind them.

"Need to get that looked at, eh?" they heard him say to the man who exited.

Inside the door was a plain room of no more than four square meters. A card reader lined the only door going forward. "This is it," Ben whispered. "I sense fifteen people inside. Can you charm the outer door locked?"

Luna did so, and when she did, Ben lit his saber only long enough to cleave the locks from the inner door.

Immediately alarms sounded as he and Luna rushed in, still invisible in the Force. Almost immediately five men carrying heavy weapons rushed toward the door. Ben and Luna stepped far out of the way and waited as the men rushed inside to investigate.

A Force push caused the door to slam, and a series of charms by Luna kept it closed.

Only then did the two of them turn to survey the interior of the room.

Ben's Stealth-X fighter remained more or less intact. However, it was covered with wires and sensors of various designs and types. It was surrounded by a handful of men and women in white coats. One was actually playing with one of the aft laser cannons. Or was. Upon the sudden slamming of the door, the scientist stood and looked to his nine other colleagues. A quick survey of the room showed there were no other exists. They were essentially trapped.

Ben pulled the two of them from the Force. "Hello," he said.

The researcher who had been playing with the laser cannon squealed like a very young girl. He turned and ran into the open casing of the laser cannon. The resulting clang of his head meeting permisteel rang through the hangar as he fell to his back.

"You might want to be careful around that," Ben said. "You set off the tibanna gas and this building will be blown sky high."

The project leader, a woman in her forties with sky-blue eyes and iron-gray hair, marched imperiously around the ship. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Actually, I was going to ask you what you're doing with my ship."

The woman stopped and gave him the once over. "I am calling security."

"I'm sure you are," Ben said. He removed his short-wave com from a pocket in his robes. "Astromech droid, can you understand me?"

The droid still nestled securely in the back of the ship beeped. "Voice command authorization, Skywalker. Release the cargo pod."

What researchers had assumed was the sleek lower hull of the ship split with a hiss and lowered. Inside was a work of beauty. Ben walked past the stuttering, wide-eyed head researcher.

"It's still there," he said to Luna. "Looks like it survived landing in your pond."

"No need to be rude," Luna said. "The pond's name is Phyllis."

"Right, forgot," Ben said with a grin. He leaned under the ship and switched on the swoop's repulsors and guided it out from under the fighter.

The researchers grouped together and stared long and hard at the hovering swoop bike. "What is that?" the head researcher said.

"Think of it like a very fast motorcycle that gets ten thousand miles to the gallon," Ben said. He ducked back under while Luna stared at the researchers. She walked right up to another woman, this one Indian in complexion, and sniffed loudly. "Plum jam," she said. "I do so love plum jam. You wouldn't happen to have any here, would you?"

"Sorry, no food in the hangar," the woman said apologetically.

"Who are you?" the head researcher said.

"Who are you?"

"I'm asking who you are."

"I know who I am, who are you?"

Under the ship, Ben chuckled to himself as he retrieved a very large high-energy repeater blaster cannon. It was the largest hand-carried weapon he had in his ship, to be used only for those very special occasions.

"What is that?" the lead researcher said as she saw the gun.

"May I have your hat?" Luna asked.

"What? No, you may not have my hat!"

"Could I have hers?" Luna asked, pointing to the Indian researcher. "It does smell so lovely."

"You can have my hat," the other researcher said timidly. She handed it over, and Luna proudly put it over her blonde locks. "Ben, look! I have a hat!"

"And you're beautiful in it!" Ben said.

"Does that mean I'm not beautiful out of it?"

"You're beautiful in, out, beside, on top or under it," Ben said without looking up. He was carefully bolting the blaster cannon to the front of the swoop and rigging the fire controls to provide double his fire power. Finally, he hopped easily the ten feet up to the nose of the fighter, and started digging in the cockpit. He pulled back with a large black box in his hand.

"Got the beacon," he said.

"Oh good!" Luna said with a cheer and a clap. "So, what do we do next?"

Ben climbed down from the ship. He walked to the lead researcher. "I'm the alien who flew this," he told her. "This technology is thousands of years in advance of yours, and frankly I don't think you should have it. So, I've initiated a self-destruct sequence. You can't deactivate it, but you can safely evacuate your personnel. I mean you no harm, but I don't want to give you any better means of killing your fellows. So, my wife and I are going to climb on board my swoop, and we're going to blow a hole in the wall. We'll go first, naturally. After that, you have one minute to get you and your people as far away from this building as possible. I'm sorry for the destruction, but I just can't take the risk of you abusing technology you shouldn't have."

The lead researcher was sputtering. The kind Indian girl was looking scared. Luna handed her back the hat. "Just in case," Luna said. "But thank you all the same."

They climbed on the swoop, which rose two more feet in the air. Ben switched the fire controls from the built-in laser to the blaster cannon module, and fired a single shot.

The entire seaward wall of reinforced cement exploded outward in a shower of dust. Luna then turned and undid all her charms on the front door. Just as the five soldiers came tearing out, Ben yelled, "Get your people moving now!" before he kicked down on the accelerators and he and Luna tore out of the hangar.

"Is there a wind shielding charm?" Luna asked. The wind whipped violently around them. Ben's hand moved to a console in the center of the swoop and pushed a button, and almost instantly the wind stopped.

He slowed a moment later and the swoop rested in air perhaps half a kilometer from the base. He reached out with his senses until he could feel the hangar. "Feels like they all got out," he said.

Luna nodded her agreement. "Did you really set a self-destruct?"

"Sort of," Ben said. He lifted his com. "I slave-rigged the proton torpedo launcher. It'll fire with the release hatch closed. Are you ready?"

Luna wrapped her arms around his waist and nodded.

He pushed the com controller. In the distance, they saw a massive orange ball of fire rise into the sky, followed a second later by the report of the explosion. A few moments later a rush of hot air pushed at them.

"That was a very big explosion," Luna noted.

Ben nodded and reached out with the Force again. Fortunately, the researchers took him at his word and the whole facility had been abandoned. Which was good as the concussive force of the explosion actually caused a partial landslide into the estuary.

"Ben," Luna whispered. "Are those aeronautical planes supposed to be flying at us like that?"

Ben felt the rush of danger as she spoke and looked up as one of the fighter jets launched a pair of missiles at the swoop. "That's not good," he said. "Hang on!"

He leaned forward and shot them toward the deck. The missiles had some type of heat-seeking capability and altered their trajectories to find him. However, so close to the surface they could not execute the full 360 degree turn required to catch him as he flew toward the oncoming jets.

The two missiles slammed into the open field of a small farm and obliterated a large part of it.

"Might be a good time for a disillusionment spell," Ben said over his shoulder.

Luna nodded and quickly disillusioned both themselves and the swoop. To the eyes of the pilots, it appeared they both disappeared from sight.

One of the pilots, a veteran of two wars in the Gulf, switched over to thermal imaging. "Got them!" he cried.

On the swoop, the early warning system blared an alert. "Sean was right!" Ben said as two more missiles came flying at him. At the time of the explosion, Leuchars had four Tornado F3 fighters in the air. Finding their supposedly secret facility under attack, the pilots searched for and found potential targets while the weapons systems officer secured a good radar lock.

They were going to kill the target that attacked their facility.

Ben swerved the swoop back and forth in a serpentine motion as the two missiles closed on his position. "Hang on!" Ben said.

He pulled up on the swoop, cut acceleration briefly, flipped in mid-air, and jammed the thrusters. The two missiles shot past while Ben took them directly toward the oncoming jets. The jets opened fire, shooting large, powerful projectile rounds at them.

Ben spun the swoop and dove again. The jets tried to alter their angle to intercept, but again Ben was flying too close to the ground. As the four jets peeled away in large loops to try and come back around, Ben slowed them and immediately shot south again. He flew just feet from the ground as he sank into the Force to let it guide him.

So close, combat radar systems had difficulty distinguishing him from the ground clutter. With the additional distance he gained by his maneuver, it was doubtful the jets would be able to catch up.

"I'm wondering if it would have been easier to just go to Flamel first," Ben said.

"Well," Luna said as she held him tighter, "even I know not to come between a boy and his toys."


	22. The Couple That Robs Together

**Chapter Twenty-Two: The Couple That Robs Together Stays Together**

Minerva McGonagall stepped past the now silent gargoyle that once guarded the offices of the headmaster. The charmed statue had not moved since Dumbledore's death.

She trudged up the stairs of the tower until she arrived in a room completely different than what she was accustomed too. Gone were most of the glittering devices Albus had collected over the years in his studies. Gone were the books that lined his shelves. Gone were all traces of the headmaster's presence, even the bowl of lemon drops he kept at the edge of his desk.

The desk was spotlessly clean and bare. On the shelves behind the desk stood neatly polished racks of potion vials. And behind the desk sat the squat, aging form of Horace Slughorn. Next to the Potions Professor stood two of the most despicable wizards Minerva had seen in her many years at Hogwarts.

Amycus Carrow and his sister Alecto managed only five years of Hogwarts. Minerva remembered clearly that neither performed well enough on their OWLS to even bother with NEWTS, and both had left the school upon reaching age fifteen.

Now they were the professors of Dark Arts at Hogwarts, and the new ministry's watchers at the school. Not Defense Against the Dark Arts, just the Dark Arts. "You asked to see me?" Minerva said in as neutral a fashion as she could manage.

Slughorn's face remained equally neutral. "Former students of yours killed several ministry officials in London yesterday," the newly appointed headmaster said. "Ben and Luna Skywalker."

Minerva raised a brow. "Professor Slughorn," she said with more than a hint of her Scottish background, "I do believe those were your students. They were both Slytherin."

"In name only," Slughorn said quickly. He sat up; that brief movement was sufficient to display his nervousness. He very carefully avoided looking at either of the Carrows. "Skywalker was sorted into a good house by Dumbledore as a spy. Have you been contacted by either of them?"

"I have not."

"Will you take veritaserum and say that?" Amycus Carrow wheezed with a sneer.

"I'll do one better," McGonagall said. She placed her wand and to her throat. "I so swear on my magic that since the fall of Hogwarts I have not been in any contact with Ben or Luna Skywalker."

Alecto Carrow, the short, ugly sister, barked laughter. "Don't worry, dear," she said, "it doesn't matter. We'll catch your little wizard."

"Will that be all, Headmaster?" Minerva finally said.

"For now," Slughorn told her. "Minerva," he added, "keep your Gryffindors under control. Professor Carrow and his sister here are now formally in charge by order of the ministry to mete out any punishment they deem necessary. I mean any punishment. I understand one of Pamona's students got to experience first hand the joys of the Cruciatus curse yesterday."

"Squealed like a stuck pig, she did," Amycus said with a disturbing gleam in his eye.

Minerva did her very best to hide the shudder that whipped through her body. "I'll make sure they understand," McGonagall said. She stood and walked quickly out of the office. The halls were deserted despite it being not even noon yet. Since the fall of the school, the remaining students walked in large clumps to their classes, and immediately afterward walked back to their common rooms without speaking to anyone. Unfortunately, those parents who wanted to pull their students out were forbidden. Those who squawked too hard got a visit from the new aurors, most of whom had the Dark Mark. Some of those parents could not walk away from the meeting.

Minerva and the rest understood that it was nothing less than a way to keep the parents hostage by holding their children. The very idea of it was both repulsive and intensely terrifying.

Hannah Abbot was just an example of what was happening. She had heard of Ms. Abbot's detention, but wasn't aware of how horribly she had been punished until now. The worse part, though, was that Minerva was not surprised. In fact, she was surprised only that it took as long to happen as it had. She fully expected all of her Gryffindors to face similar punishments from the start.

If Draco had still been in school, she would have expected the Slytherins to support the Carrows. However, with Draco and his ringleaders gone, the Slytherins were just as quiet and fearful as the rest of the students.

Even without the old Slytherins, Minerva was just thankful that Ginny and Ron Weasley had left with poor Susan Bones. If any of the Gryffindors were to get into trouble, it would be Ginny and her friends.

Minerva arrived at her office, sat down, and buried her face in her hands. It was too much, too fast. The Carrows were nothing less than garbage. They were unfit to walk these hallowed halls as students, and were doubly unfit to walk them as professors.

It took almost five minutes before Minerva determined the only cure for her situation. A minute after that she had a tumbler in her hands and a bottle on her desk.

She was deep in the cuppers when she felt a vibration and a spot of warmth in one of her robe pockets. In her state, it took perhaps a few seconds longer than it should have for her to realize what it was. Finally, though, she pulled out her fake galleon and stared at it. The lettering arranged itself into a short message: "Doge dead. Where NF?"

"NF?" she drawled.

"I do believe they mean dear Nicolas."

Minerva looked up so fast her glasses slipped off the end of her nose. She took a moment to push them back on. "What are you blathering on about, Albus?" she asked.

The newly woken portrait of the former headmaster looked down at her with such a sad smile Minerva actually sobbed a little.

The portrait hung in her office because Slughorn loudly refused to hang it in his own. The Carrows thoroughly agreed with the sentiment and only the history of the school gave Slughorn the courage to refuse their wishes to burn it. Fortunately, the Carrows were too narrow-minded to imagine what a benefit it was to have Dumbledore's magical personality on hand.

"I wish I could make this better for you, dear," the portrait said. "I knew it would be quite terrible. But I also know that of all my dearest friends, you were the one strong enough to get through it. I need you to be strong now, Minerva. Not for me, or even yourself. But for all the students that are counting on you now."

"I know, Albus," she said. "They cursed Hannah Abbot. Subjected a child to the cruciatus. What kind of monsters do that?"

"The kind we are fighting even now. Look at the galleon, Minerva. They are looking for Nicolas Flamel."

She looked down, and it made perfect sense now. "Poor Elphias," she said. "He acted like he was well on his way to two-hundred." She blinked. "I have no idea where Flamel lives. Do you?"

"Of course," the dead headmaster said. "He's in Swanage, by the sea. He always did like the water."

"It is a risk coming here," the Goblin said with an unfriendly snarl.

The Black account manager, Rocknut (Sirious turned faintly red in the face in an effort not to laugh) was not particularly happy to see the couple when they entered Gringotts. "The bank is cooperating as much as possible with the new ministry," Rocknut continued.

"I understand," Black said. "Hence this will be our last visit. I need to withdrawal sufficient funds to live abroad for an undetermined amount of time, and ensure my fiancée has the wedding band she deserves."

The goblin stared at Hermione as if she were dirt. "Of course," Rocknut said at last. "However, as you are aware most of your assets have already been transferred overseas. You have little here. Additionally, you are both wanted for treason against the Ministry. It is within my rights, and perhaps even my responsibility, to hold you both for immediate arrest by the Aurors."

"You mean Voldemort," Hermione said stiffly.

"At this time, the distinction is moot," Rocknut said. "Come if you must. I cannot guarantee your safety or your freedom once you leave this building, but inside you are under Goblin protection."

The way he said it made it sound like a threat.

The goblin led them to the cart that would take them to the Black Family Vault, just two vaults up from the Lovegood and LeStrange vaults. Just as Rocknut was about to leave, a whispered voice said, "_Imperio_."

Rocknut froze. "Perhaps you would like to come with us, Rocknut," Sirius said with a burning twinkle in his eye.

The assistant goblin turned and stared. "Begone," Rocknut told the younger creature. "I will accompany them personally."

The creature fled. Rocknut stiffly climbed into the cart, and then was roughly pushed over as two more wizards entered. They removed their invisibility cloak just as the car started moving. "I knew James's cloak would come in handy," Sirius said as the cart started rolling.

"This isn't going to work," Hermione said. "Gringotts vaults are the most heavily charmed and secured places in the magical world. Without Lestrange's key we will never get in."

"Why didn't you say so before we came?" Sirius said.

"I didn't want to ruin the mood from you proposing," Hermione admitted with a duck of her head.

Behind them, Bill laughed. "Don't worry, Charlie and I have it covered."

"Will you get in trouble for this?" Black asked.

"Are you kidding? The goblins are going to want my head on a platter if they ever find out I was involved," the curse-breaker said. "I'll definitely never be able to work for any Gringotts branch again, that's for sure. Good thing the American and Australian banks are not run by goblins."

"Good thing," Sirius agreed. The wild cart ride ended not at the Black family vaults, but the Lestrange vault. The four wizards and ensorcelled goblin climbed out. "All right, Hermione," Sirius said. "Do you have it?"

Hermione reached into a bottomless bag and started pulling out brightly colored tubes linked together with red and green wires.

"Can't believe you managed to get those," Charlie said. "How did you?"

"There was a construction site near my parent's old house," Hermione explained as she set the tangle of tubes on the cart. "I started checking on it after I shipped them to Australia. The security shed that housed this stuff wasn't that hard to get into." She removed a box. "The harder part was finding decent instructions for this stuff. But I hit a cybercafé in Picadilly and finally found what I needed." She very carefully inserted the wires into the box.

The Weasley brothers were staring at her. Sirius chuckled. "I don't have any idea what she said either. But it's Hermione, so you know it has to be right."

The other wizards watched with interest and did not entirely understand the beads of sweat that gathered at Hermione's brow. Finally, she finished, set the timer, and watched as Charlie ordered Rocknut to send the cart back from whence it came.

"So how will we know when…" Charlie began, before he was interrupted by a deafening explosion.

The whole cavern shook as the cart exploded under one fifty pounds of explosive. The concussion was sufficient to crack a portion of the ceiling and the four of them watched as the carver partially caved in. The clouds of dust billowed toward them and only stopped when Sirius put up a mild shield.

"Now comes the fun part," Bill said. He reached into his own large bag he had slung over his shoulder and removed several ward stones. "I have wanted to do this almost since I started and got a good look at the vault wards."

"I remember you mentioning it," Charlie said. "So, is this ward breaking or curse breaking?"

"With Goblins they're the same thing," Bill said.

"What can we do?" Hermione said.

"Well," Sirius said, "the black family vault is right next door."

Hermione's eyes widened. "You were serious about…" She stopped and held up her hand before he could crack the joke. "Stop. I mean it. Were you serious about the ring?"

"With all my heart," Black admitted.

"Good, get out of here," Bill said. "Charlie, you do your bit too. I think I've got this. If not, we'd all die anyway, so might as well get off the platform."

Hermione and Sirius left without further encouragement, moving toward the surface through a narrow service trail until they reached the Black Family vaults. Sirius handed Hermione the key, and with him smiling on she inserted it and opened the vault.

The vault was completely empty, except for a single pedestal in the center of what was once a very large area. Upon the pedestal rested a blue velvet pillow. Upon this pillow rested a gold ring with a large ruby set in the center, surrounded by diamonds.

Hermione stumbled in. "That's a big ring."

"That's the formal ring," Sirius said with a snicker. He took her hand and guided her to the pillow. As they approached, she saw two other pillars that were artfully concealed behind the first. The second ring was gold beaten into a delicate heart-shape with a still nice-sized diamond in the center and rubies inlaid along the edge of the heart. The third was a simple, 24-carat gold band.

"It's traditional for the matriarchs of old families to have a multiple bands," Sirius said. "The large ruby is actually the Black Matriarchal ring. Only the wife of the Head of House, or the Head of House if a woman, can wear it. I'm head of the House."

"It's…." Hermione struggled for words.

"It's ugly and gaudy," Sirius supplied helpfully. "I've been rapped on the head more times with that bloody ring than I can tell you. My loving mother never took it off. You'd only have to wear it during official family functions, which we won't have to worry about for a while. The second is the traditional wedding ring. This one I bought for you about four months ago."

She turned and looked up at his face. How a man could look like an adoring puppy-dog, she would never know. Perhaps it was his animagus form showing. "It is beautiful," she whispered.

"So are you." He pointed to the band. "The last is for when you're working with your hands and don't want to risk getting the diamond caught. All are charmed to be ever-fitting and ever-lustrous. And all are yours."

Hermione leaned up and kissed him again. "I can't believe I'm going to marry such an…"

"Old man?" Sirius said.

"I was going to say nut case," Hermione said. "You're still a kid inside and you know it. A big, beautiful kid."

He accepted the hug and kiss with open joy. "I do love you, Hermione Granger."

"And I love you, Sirius Black. God and magic now why, but I do."

They gathered all three rings. Without any hesitation, Sirius slipped the band on her finger. "Might need to use your hands freely," he said. He removed a plain gold band from one of the pockets of his vest and slipped it on. "I figured until the formal ceremony, we just make sure everyone knows we're spoken for."

"Had a lot of proposals, then, have you?" Hermione asked.

"As a matter of fact…" She stopped him with a kiss. A moment later the two of them stepped out into the cavern.

In the distance, they could hear muffled shouts and the distant clang of tools against rocks. The goblins were doing their best to get through the collapsed section. They made their way back to the Lestrange vault and stopped just off the platform to a unique and special sight.

Hermione had taken both arithmancy and ancient runes in school, and so she knew in theory some of what Bill Weasley was doing. However, she had never seen the practical aspect of it. It was astounding not only in the complexity of the wards, but in Bill Weasley's skill in defusing them.

The air itself was alight with a sickly purple-blue haze that hung like a heavy mist. She could see where it emerged from the vaults themselves and seemed to be swirling around Bill's hands and into the four wardstones he had set up around the platform.

With a clap of his hands and a sudden rush of Gaelic, Bill literally pulled the purple haze from the vaults with both hands and then made throwing motions toward the stones. The purple-blue haze rushed out and into the wardstones with a sucking sound, and were gone.

Bill sagged, his face and the collar of his robes soaking with perspiration.

"Wow," he said. "That was intense."

"Are all the curses lifted?"

"The curses?" Bill said with a look of surprise. "That was just the lock protection to be able to open the vault. I'm not going to be able to do anything about the curses on the contents themselves. But we sort of know what we're looking for, so hopefully we can avoid the worst of the flagrante and geminio curses."

He turned back to the vault page. "_Alohamora_!"

With all magical protections removed, nothing prevented the vault door from responding to the simple opening charm. With a metallic clang and the groan of metal rubbing against metal, the vault door swung open.

The interior of the vault was filled with priceless treasures of gold and silver, piles of galleons and ample evidence that supporting a Dark Lord paid well.

"My vault was bigger," Sirius said with a snarky smile.

Hermione blew a lock of hair from her face. "Jealous?"

He shrugged. "Anyone see the cup?"

"_Accio_ Helga Hufflepuff's cup!" Bill said.

From the midst of the vault flew a single golden chalice. Rather than attempt to catch it, Bill stepped aside and held up his bag. With two deft hands he used the bag to catch the cup. "Got it!" he crowed. "All right, let's close it back up."

With a flick of his wand the vault door swung open and just as quickly the strange purple haze began lifting from the ward stones. The restoration of the wards took much less time than the removal of them. "And that's that," he said. "They should not have any proof that we broke into the vault."

"You're very good," Hermione said.

Bill shrugged. "I know. I wonder how Charlie's doing?"

They waited. "Hmm, for some reason I thought we'd hear a growl or something," Bill said. "He missed his cue."

That's when the distant growl came. "There he is," Black said. "You're going to have to talk to him about his timing."

Bill shrugged. Moments later an ancient dragon with white-coated eyes crawled through the narrow tunnels. The three of them stood perfectly still as they watched the beast pass just feet away. Finally, it was gone. Charlie Weasley came sauntering after. "That was one cranky old beast," he said with a jovial smile.

They heard a sound almost like an explosion. Rocks tumbled and voices cried, but over it all they could hear a deep, angry, rumbling roar. The blind dragon at the bottom of the vaults had freedom at last.

"What do you think will happen to it?" Hermione asked.

Charlie smiled. "I think it's going to rip a nice big hole through the center of Gringott's," the dragon handler said. "Pretty sure that was an ancient Hungarian horntail. They get bigger with age. That one was as old as any I've ever seen. It's getting a little weak, but with a body that size it's strong enough."

As if to give ample evidence to his words, they could hear the sound of rocks tumbling and the whole cavern shook. A moment later they heard screams of terror and pain. "I'd say that's our cue," Bill said.

The four of them and Rocknut, still under the Imperius course, walked across the foot-path to the Black vault platform. Bill removed the invisibility cloak from his bag and he and Charlie soon disappeared. From behind the cloak, Charlie then released the curse. "Rocknut!" Black said.

The Goblin, released now and with no memory of what had just happened, blinked in confusion. "What is happening here?"

"Something collapsed part of the tunnel," Black said. "I think it was Voldemort trying to get us. I think the Death Eaters released the dragon. You've got to help us get out!"

Still confused, the goblin's face turned into a grimace. "The dragon was released?"

The dragon's timing was evidently improving. A thunderous roar echoed through the cavern.

"By my ancestors!" the Goblin said. "Come, we must flee!"

He turned and started scrabbling along a narrow foot-path that the four wizards would never have been able to find on their own. They followed along as quick as they could. They soon reached the collapsed portion of the cavern, only to find it roughly cleared by the dragon's passage.

Hermione noticed the bodies of several fallen goblins and one wizard. She wondered briefly if Bill knew the man or not.

It took a long time on foot, using hidden passages no one else but the goblins knew about, to reach the lobby.

"Wow," Hermione said.

The lobby was literally torn apart. The whole front of the bank was gone, replaced instead by a gaping hole in the once stately entranceway. All the interior desks and shelves were gone. Witches, wizards and goblins alike stood, squatted and lay in shock amidst the destruction. Some were crying softly. Others yelling questions. Hermione saw with relief that no one else appeared to have been hurt by the dragon's rampage.

"Is it safe?" Black asked.

"As safe as can be," Rocknut said. "I do not understand how the Dark Lord's forces could have done this. We will have a full investigation, and once the guilty party is found, there will be an accounting." The threat in his words was obvious.

Black nodded. "Well, you've served us well. My fiancée and I were able to retrieve the last treasures in my vault," he said. He held up his ring, as did Hermione.

Rocknut nodded curtly. "You have what you came for," he said. "You had better leave now, then."

"We're leaving," Black said. He and Hermione rushed out of the hole that made up the former entrance of the bank. Outside dark gray skies released their burden and rain began pouring down in heavy sheets over Diagon Alley. Already aurors and others were running toward the bank.

"I think it may be time for us to be on our way," Sirius said. "You ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Hermione said.

The two dis-apparated, not to the park across the street from Grimmauld, but to the house where Hermione Granger grew up in. Moments later Bill and Charlie Weasley joined them.

Sirius took a long, shaky breath. "Well," he summarized, "that was exhilarating."

"We just robbed Gringott's bank," Hermione said with a touch of awe in her voice.

"So how do we destroy the horcrux?" Bill asked. "I only got a chance to look at it, but it is reeking with powerful dark magics."

"We don't want to try right now," Hermione said. "The magical back-lash could destroy the house, maybe the whole neighborhood." She looked around the empty house. "And we can't very well stay here for long. Now that Voldemort has Hogwarts they'll have record of past addresses for all the students."

"Agreed," Bill said.

"Minerva's brother is an Order member," Sirius said. "He's a squib who lives among the muggles in Edinburgh, just a few leagues from Hogwarts. He might be able to put us up."

"Couldn't hurt to ask," Hermione said as she dug out her galleon. "What was his name?"

"Sean," Charlie supplied helpfully. "Met him last year during a meeting."

"Alright, Sean McGonagall," Hermione said, "I hope you don't have any guests at your house."

Concentrating on the galleon, she sent their request, and without waiting for a response, the four of them dis-apparated across the United Kingdom.


	23. The Man Who Lived Forever

**Chapter Twenty-Three: The Man Who Lived Forever, But Changed His Mind**

"We are going very fast," Luna noted as Ben's swoop streaked across the skies of England.

"Yes, we are," he agreed with a happy grin.

"Why isn't the wind blowing harder?"

"A deflector screen," Ben said. "Think of it like a Muggle _protego_ spell."

Her arms wrapped tightly around his middle as she rested her head on his back. She said nothing else until she felt his galleon warm and vibrate in his pocket. He looked back momentarily as Luna reached into the pocket and pulled their enchanted galleon out. "We have his address," she said. "Swanage. That's the very south of England, along the channel."

"Am I heading the right way?"

She performed the point-me spell not on Flamel, whose home was unplottable, but on Swanage itself. "Turn a little to the right."

He corrected his course and the two continued speeding across the country. As loud as a swoop normally was, with silencing and disillusionment charms no one below could see or hear them. The flights of fighters that scrambled after their escape from Leuchars became increasingly rare the further south they went, until they passed over London with no sign of military pursuit.

South of London, they came upon a gently rolling countryside as green as anything Ben had ever seen. The town of Swanage itself twisted in gentle curves below in a casual slope toward the sea. The majority of the buildings were two and three story stone and brick structures, joined at the walls and surrounding narrow streets lined with parked cars.

His stomach growled and Luna's joined him. "Don't suppose there's an eatery down there that accepts galleons?" he asked.

"I'm sure I don't know," Luna admitted.

"Probably just as well," Ben said. He slowed the swoop down until they drifted on repulsors only just over the northern edges of the village. "It would probably be crawling with Death Eaters. So, where to now?"

Luna pulled her wand from her hair. "Point me Tilly Whim Road."

Her wand pointed south toward the cliffs. Ben applied a small amount of thrust and the swoop gently accelerated forward until the land came to an abrupt end. Directly below they could see an aging, narrow road that looked more suited to livestock than vehicles. The road ran contoured to the rocky coast of the South of England.

Ben brought the swoop down just meters over the road. "Now, you said his home is under a Fidelius charm?"

"Professor Dumbledore was the secret keeper," Luna said. "He must have left it in writing for Professor McGonagall. Nicolas Flamel lives at 1330 Tilly Whim Road."

There were still some aspects of magic that still astounded Ben Skywalker. The Fidelius Charm was one of them. With just the utterance of an address, it seemed a curtain of the world collapsed before their eyes. Where once there was nothing but grass and holly-covered stone there now arose an ancient stone mansion—a castle, really. The grounds around the castle appeared exquisitely landscaped into gardens and shrubberies, and even a labyrinth on the side facing the Channel. The keep itself looked several hundred years old, with beautiful detailed stained-glass windows and soaring buttresses that gave the home almost a cathedral quality.

Ben brought the swoop down onto a large circular drive before the central oak doors.

Almost immediately, the door opened and five wizards rushed toward them with their wands ready. "Hands up!" one of them shouted.

Ben was not sure what to expect, but this was not it. "Er, hello," he said. "My wife and I were looking for Nicolas Flamel?"

The five wizards stared in apparent confusion at Ben's greeting. The oldest appeared to be approaching fifty, while the youngest appeared no older than thirty. The others ranged in age between the two. All wore neatly trimmed beards and wizarding robes made of the finest fabrics. The eldest of the five wizards stepped forward. "Who are you, and what kind of broom is that?"

"It's a swoop bike," Ben said. "And before I answer I need to know who you are. Are you Flamel?"

"You came here," the leader said with a sneer. "I don't have to answer anything."

Luna slid off the bike and smiled briefly at Ben before she walked calmly to the wizard. He towered over her by a head and a half. "Hello," she said with that wide-eyed brightness that often left strangers sputtering. "My name is Luna Lovegood-Skywalker. This is my husband Ben Skywalker. We're hoping Mr. Flamel can translate something for us that may help us defeat Voldemort. He is a very bad man, after all, and I do believe we would be better off with him gone."

The wizard blinked. If they had been Death Eaters, Ben knew they would all be dead by now. On the other hand, he realized that if they had been Death Eaters Luna would not have spoken to the man. She was an astoundingly accurate judge of character.

Behind the leader, one of the other wizards cleared his throat. "Michael," he said to the older man in front of them. "Skywalker—as in the boy from another planet."

Michael blinked, stared a moment at Ben, then at the swoop, and then to Luna. "What are you doing here again?"

"I was hoping Mr. Flamel could translate an old family scroll," Luna said. "We think it might be important."

"Mr. Flamel does not have time for visitors," Michael said.

Ben climbed down from the swoop. A cool breeze blew off the water to play with the strands of Luna's hair and robe. He pulled his own robes off and revealed his training clothes below and the blaster and lightsaber than hung from his belt. "Michael," he said, "we don't have much time. Voldemort has seized control of the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts itself. Before he died Albus Dumbledore said Mr. Flamel might be able to help. We need to speak to him now."

At the mention of the headmaster Michael blinked. He looked back at his fellows, then to the young couple. "Albus Dumbledore is dead?"

"Killed by Voldemort when Hogwarts fell," Ben said. "I could feel him die from across the country."

"That doesn't…." Michael stopped when the youngest of the wizards stepped forward.

"I'm Nicolas Flamel," he said.

Luna blinked. "You look very good for six hundred years old."

The greatest alchemist in history gave a self-deprecating hug. "I have my moments. These are my sons."

"Your sons?" Luna asked.

"Actually, distant descendents," Michael said. "The magical Fleming family are all direct descendents from Grand Papa before he began taking the Elixir of Life."

"Sadly immortality has a price," Flamel said. "But my beloved wife and I were blessed with two sons before we gave up mortal life."

"I don't understand," Ben said.

"He's no longer a man," Luna said with a piercing gaze. "The Elixir of Life destroys the ability to create life."

"Hence none in my family have chosen to ever take it," Nicolas said. "Not only can I have no children, I cannot even make the attempt."

Ben blinked. "That's a steep price. But we were all told you were getting ready to die."

"Indeed," Nicolas said. "I am. And in perhaps a hundred to a hundred and fifty years, I certainly will. Given my lifespan, that is a heartbeat away. You see, the elixir didn't just give me the illusion of youth. Biologically I am thirty-two. I have been thirty-two for six centuries. But in return for that youth, there is no reversal. Upon the first touch of the elixir to my lips, I ceased to be a man. My wife ceased to be a woman." He cleared his throat. "Enough about me. Why did Albus send you all the way to Swanage?"

Luna removed the scroll from her robes. "We need to have this translated."

Nicolas stared to reach for it, but then saw the seal and paused. The hesitation lasted only a moment before he took it and opened it. "Where did you get this?" he asked sharply.

"From the Lovegood family vaults," Luna said. "There is a magical painting of my ancestor, Princess Gisela Bonamour. She told us what we need is in this scroll."

The former immortal stared down at scroll with furrowed brows. "Might as well come in," he said. He looked up at Michael. "You said Teranelle had lunch cooking? You might add two spaces to the table."

"That would be lovely," Luna said. "We haven't eaten since before we raided that muggle Air Force base."

That comment raised many eye brows but did not elicit and further response. The wizards appeared not to want to know.

The interior of the castle looked as magnificent as the exterior. The opening hall had an almost holodrama feel to it. The entryway rose three floors above them, lit by the stained-glass windows that appeared charmed to augment the natural sunlight. The floors appeared to be made of a richly textured wood, while two curving staircases rose almost twenty feet to the second level. Unlike the cold, draft stone walls of Hogwarts, the whole castle appeared to have wood paneling on the walls, giving the place a warm, richly textured look.

Everywhere they saw priceless artifacts on display on the walls, shelves and tables set at tasteful intervals throughout. However, the museum quality was immediately offset by the hoard of people waiting for them between the stairs.

Luna stopped short when she saw them. "Susan?" she asked in surprise. "Susan Fleming?"

The girl in question stood near the middle of a group of fifty or so witches and wizards. She was one of the younger children, though there were some many years younger. She smiled sheepishly. "Hello, Luna," she said.

Luna turned to Ben. "A Ravenclaw, fifth year. I had no idea she was related to Nicolas."

"She's my daughter," Michael said. "Not surprised she would know you."

Susan Fleming stepped forward and gave Luna a hug. "It's good to see you safe," she said. "Father pulled me out of school the moment he heard the ministry had fallen. I'm the only current Hogwarts student. The others have either graduated, or haven't started yet."

It turned out that the Fleming family—the entire, extended family, lived with their "Grand Papa and Grand Mama" in the mansion. Further, it appeared the mansion was much larger on the inside than it was on the outside. In fact, judging from the number of Flemings running about, it appeared to house a population almost as large as Hogwarts itself. Those fifty that met them were simply the family members who were available.

The table was actually three tables, much like at school, though they were segregated by age more than anything else. Ben could not see any specific trait common to them all, though he did notice several chins on the people that bore a faint resemblance to Nicolas.

He and Luna were led to the adult table, even though they were actually younger than most of those in the home. Brief introductions were made and the young couple became intensely aware of the many curious stares.

It was Michael's matronly wife Teranelle who finally said, "Susan told us of your marriage. She was so emotional about it she broke down in the telling. She rarely does that."

Luna smiled. "I like Susan very much. She did not pick on me. The bouillabaisse is excellent."

"Thank you," Teranelle said with a gracious smile.

Nicolas, at the head of the table, ignored the conversation and his food as he stared down at the scroll. Finally, he looked up and said, "I haven't seen anything baring this script in five hundred years. Do you know what this is?"

Ben and Luna shared a glance before Ben nodded and spoke. "It's the spell the last of the original Falannassi settlers on this world used to sink your planet into the White Current—what you would call a Fidelius charm. They were trying to hide your world from the greater galaxy."

Flamel blinked. All conversation in the room ended as every pair of eyes turned to stare. "What do you mean?" Michael asked.

"Queen Hildegarde was not entirely human," Luna said.

"She was Falannassi," Ben explained. "They are a near-human race of Force-users who were fleeing a galactic-scale war between the Jedi and Sith a thousand years ago. The Fallanassi landed here, on this world. I don't know if all magic-users are descended from her. From what I've read it's likely you had magic before they arrived. However, I believe your magic changed with their arrival."

"One of Hildegarde's granddaughters was Rowena Ravenclaw," Luna explained.

"So why do you need to know this spell?" Flamel continued.

"I need to remove the charm long enough for my father to find me," Ben said.

"So you want to go home?" Flamel asked.

"Eventually," Ben said. "But in the meantime he could help us fight Voldemort. And you might also learn something of your own past. Father is working with a Fallanassi adept."

Michael Fleming was mouthing the word "Fallanassi" to his wife, but Nicholas Flamel simply stared back at Ben for the longest time. "I never thought to hear that word again," he finally said. "It was five hundred years after they came when I was born, but there were still a few who remembered their culture. The spoken language was gone by then, but we remembered the written language. I thought it would die with me as well."

"I don't read much Fallanassi," Ben said. "My father is fluent in both the written and spoken language. But we do need help."

"I'll help you," Fleming said. "But you're going to need at least two with strong Fallanassi blood to perform the spell to reactivate it. The legends say it took fifty to create the spell originally, but the spell can be switched on and off with fewer than that."

"Luna can already manipulate the White Current," Ben said. "She might as well be pure Fallanassi."

"Then that leaves me as the second," Fleming said. "It will take a few hours to translate this, though. So, in the meantime, rest here."

After a filling lunch of fish soup and piping-hot bread, the young couple got a guided tour by Susan. The tour finally ended outside on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. It was late afternoon and the clouds were just beginning to break up. Stray shafts of sunlight splashed haphazardly across the rolling waters of the channel.

Without words exchanged, Luna leaned into Ben and he put an arm around her shoulder. Susan Fleming stood a few steps away watching them with a wistful smile. "I hope I find love as strong as yours some day," she said.

Without turning to look at her, Luna said, "I understand there is a young man in Gryffindor named Jehan Cooperson. He likes wizard's chess and exploding snap. But when he goes home he secretly likes to paint wizarding portraits. He's already managed one of his father."

Evidently that meant a great deal to Susan Fleming. Her face softened into a faintly dreamy expression as she too looked out over the channel.

They started back into the castle an hour later as the sun sank just over the horizon. The castle was ablaze with lights shining from the brilliantly wrought windows. "It is a nice place, rather," Luna said.

Ben nodded his agreement.

They just walked into the rear entrance when one of the younger Fleming children found them. "Grand Papa says to come to the study," the girl said. She led them up several flights of stairs until they at last reached the study, which took up one of the turrets of the castle on the third level and provided a spectacular view of the channel.

They entered a roughly circular room with a twelve foot high ceiling, lined in bookshelves that went up every inch of wall space. A single chandelier hung in the center of the ceiling and cast a warm, illuminating white light over the chamber. In the center sat a heavy oak desk, while comfortable leather chairs and smaller reading tables lined the walkway from the front door.

Flamel sat behind the larger desk with several large tomes on his desk. He reminded Ben a little of Hermione Granger.

"I've finished translating the scroll," he said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Go where?" Ben asked.

"Amesbury," Flamel told them. "As clichéd as it might sound, we'll need to perform the spell at Stonehenge."

Luna blinked. "That is rather cliché," she agreed.

"It's less than sixty miles away from here," Flamel said. "We can apparate there."

"I haven't learned how to do that," Ben said. "And frankly I'd like to keep my swoop with me. If you apparate there, I can join you in about seven minutes."

Nicolas blinked. "That muggle broom of yours can go four hundred miles an hour?"

"Faster than that," Ben said. "But not with passengers."

"Okay."

"Do we need to bring anything?" Luna asked. "I would imagine it's a very complex spell."

"Surprising it's not that complex to deactivate," Flamel said. "It's just very energy-intensive." He led them back through the house until they reached the front entrance. Several family members saw them off, including Susan. Finally, they stepped out into the dusk.

Ben and Luna mounted his swoop and quickly activated the repulsors. As they floated up over the drive of the Flamel house, Nicolas raised a hand. "I'll see you there."

With a barely audible pop, Flamel disappeared. While the younger Flemings walked out into the evening, Ben spun the swoop around. "Hang on tight," he said over his shoulder.

"Always!" Luna smiled back.

The swoop rushed away. Ben quickly pushed its accelerator as he reached out with his mind for Nicolas Flamel's Force signature.

The alchemist was a bright spot in the Force, and shone clearly ahead of him. After just over six minutes of flying, Ben slowed the swoop down until they were passing directly over the site. From the air, it did not appear to be that spectacular. It was megalithic in nature, but Ben had seen megalithic ruins on planets larger than the circle. He knew of one ruin where the natives built a tower three kilometers tall made entirely of stone in an era before they had even discovered iron.

However, what his eyes missed his Force sense captured.

The place was a Nexus.

He brought the swoop down on the wind-swept plan just outside outermost ring. Nearby cars drove past a major thoroughfare, but the sound of their passage was muted by distance and wind. He and Luna climbed off the swoop and held hands.

"It's nice enough to look at," Luna said softly, "but the magic of the place is making my hair stand on end. It rather tickles."

"Have you been here before?"

"I'm rather sad to say no, I've not been here," Luna said. "A shame, really. I've been to Sweden and Norway, throughout the continent and even the Americas, but father never took me here."

Nicolas met them halfway to the circle. "You weren't kidding about that muggle broom of yours," he said. "Well, we're here. Can you feel it?"

The young couple nodded. "There are places like this all over Europe where the first European witches and wizards tried to harness the magic in the Earth," he said. He walked in front of them. Ben watched the man's hands move as he spoke about the history of the place. However, the sheer, overwhelming power of the site made it difficult for him to pay attention.

"The place closed at six," Flamel said. "Other than the security guards we should be fine. I've placed Notice-Me-No charms around the circle." He led them past the outer ring of stones and toward the center collection of megaliths. "Sadly, the place has been tinkered with by the Muggles, but we always tried to make sure a wizard was on the team to keep them from really ruining it. The stones are a very effective focus for the ambient magic of the land."

"Is this the only place we could do this?" Luna asked.

"No, just the nearest," he said. "The original site was in France, but I thought you two would want to stay local."

"Thank you," Ben said.

"All right, here we go," Nicolas said. "Luna, you stand right…" He positioned her directly in front of one of the stones. "There! Ben, over here."

Once Ben was positioned, the alchemist reviewed his notes and took another position. They formed a perfect isosceles triangle in the center of the stone. Luna's back was to the setting sun. "All right," Flamel said. "I will do the incantation. Do not interrupt me. Do not move. No matter what you may see or hear, do not interrupt the chant or the spell will fail. I'll be pulling on your magic—do not resist me."

He began chanting, and immediately Ben recognized the Fallanassi language. He did not speak it, but he heard it often enough from his father, or Jacen during his apprenticeship and the older Jedi's study with Akanah.

Around him, the stones took on a misty white glow.

Suddenly they were not alone. Figures stood all around dressed in plain white robes. They were women, Ben saw. All were beautiful. They stood straight and proud. Some had dark hair; some had hair so blonde as to be white. Yet all of them bore a resemblance in their high cheekbones and the large eyes. He saw at least one of the women had silver-grey eyes the same exact shade as Luna.

The apparitions stood motionless as Flamel chanted. The alchemist's eyes were wide open and staring wildly, but he did not stop changing.

One of the figures suddenly moved and walked to the center of the circle, where she spun to face Ben. She walked forward, seemingly as real as Ben himself. "You are not of this world," she said. Even with the language spell Luna used on him after his arrival, Ben recognized that the woman was speaking to him in stilted, but clear Galactic Basic. Though she appeared real, her voice was hollow and incorporeal, more like the sound of wind through leaves than that of a person. "You are a destroyer, Jedi. A bringer of violence. You are an abomination in this holy place. Why are you here?"

"This land is threatened by a dark wizard," Ben said. "We seek to pull the planet from the White Current so that my father can come and stop him."

"You seek to wrest the world from its sanctuary, in order to bring even more violence to end violence," she said. "That is not the Fallanassi way. It is the way of the Jedi. We will not allow you to leave this world exposed to the horrors of the galaxy."

"An adept of the Fallanassi travels with my father," Ben said. "We can place the world back to safety once the battle is done. But this world has seen its own share of horrors." He nodded to Luna, who watched with rapt attention. "She can touch the White Current without any training. She is a daughter of the Fallanassi. Yet she had to see her father cut down by the minions of the Dark Lord. If you can give me any alternative to violence to stop this killer, then I would take it gladly."

Flamel continued chanting. Ben could feel a drain on his magic, and from her slight swoon knew Luna felt it as well.

"Violence begets violence begets violence," the Fallanasi ghost said. "We found this world barbaric and backward, but we showed the magic-users here another way. I gave my children to the greatest king of the land for peace. I witnessed horror and bloodshed, so that my people could be free of it. And in separating our people and those who learned to believe in us, we gave them peace. But still the war among the Jedi and Sith raged. Worlds died. We knew we could not leave this world open to the true horrors you Force-wielders wrought on each other. So we sank this world into the Current, forever to know peace."

"This world knows nuclear weapons," Ben said. "It knows war and pain and horror. It is the nature of humanity to fight itself. You bought peace for your children, but at what price? I cannot stop this Dark Lord alone. But with my father I can."

"You hold your father in such esteem?"

"He is the Jedi grand master," Ben said.

The ghost of Hildegarde, Queen an mother of magical Europe and many of Charlemagne's children, sneered. "A title fitting only for the Jedi."

"Please help me save Luna," Ben finally said.

She stepped closer to him, her bright blue eyes intense. "Now we come to the real reason," she whispered. "Tell me, Jedi-child, why we should help you save that girl?"

Ben's throat felt suddenly dry. "Because I love her," he admitted.

"The Jedi do not love."

"The New Jedi Order does," Ben said. "I do. Please, I can't lose her. She is my wife. We have bonded our magic and our souls."

The haughty, disdainful features of Queen Hildegard softened for the briefest moment as she looked from Ben to Luna. "So it seems," she whispered.

The ghost of Hildegard stepped back into the center of the ring. "We shall assist," she said coldly. "But you will not like the price to be paid!"

The other figures raised their white-cloaked arms as Nicolas Flamel continued to chant.

It came without warning, but when it did come, there was no missing it. Around them, the whole world took on a faint hazy look. The haze intensified with a humming sound just on the verge of their hearing. Then there was a shift.

Ben could not describe it in any other way. The whole world shifted. Not to the right or left, but from one place to another.

The Force suddenly roared into Ben's ears. A few feet away, Luna actually collapsed to her knees with it. When Ben looked back to the Fallanassi ghosts, they were gone. Nicolas Flamel had fallen to his knees as well. "_Merde_!" he said in his native French.

Ben rushed to Luna's side. "Are you all right?"

"I'm sure…" She stopped and shook her head and looked up at him. "Is it always like this for you all the time?"

Ben realized she was feeling everything he did. "It's worse at the moment because we've been cut off from the rest of the galaxy," Ben explained. "It will get better as your mind adjusts."

If Ben and Luna had not been so overwhelmed by the Force-presence of the galaxy at large, they would have been easily overwhelmed by the confusion of every radio-telescope operator across the world as the planet was, for the first time, blasted by signals spanning the entire EM spectrum and beyond. The signals received were from the more primitive worlds on the fringes of galactic civilization, since the more advanced Holonet communications were so focused that Earth would never know of them unless they were integrated into the network. However, radio and laser-based communications systems still existed, and for the first time in the history of the modern world, Earth was exposed to it all.

As satellite signals wavered under the onslaught, TV-dishes received alien signals that disrupted and sometimes actually blew out televisions, Ben and Luna slowly climbed to their feet. "I'd say the spell worked," Ben said.

"I do believe you're right," Luna said. She wrapped arms around his neck and planted a firm kiss on his lips. "I can't wait to meet my father in law."

"I think he'll like you very much."

They heard a strangled gasp. The two turned and looked at Flamel. The ancient, yet young-looking wizard stared back at them with a strangely pale complexion. Very slowly, he fell to his knees. The jolt of his fall exposed a thin red line on his neck. The line began bleeding profusely as his head slowly fell from his shoulders.

The young couple stared, shocked at the sight of Nicolas Flamel falling dead to the ground. There was no warning in the Force. No danger sense.

A single figure stepped out from behind the stone near where Flamel had stood. His limbs appeared human enough, but his face had an almost reptilian cast to it. Red eyes glared from a smooth face that completely lacked a nose or any hair at all. He wore loose, flowing black robes as he stood by the decapitated body of the oldest wizard in the world.

"So this was Nicolas Flamel," Lord Voldemort said with a disdainful laugh. "How he survived all those centuries is a mystery." He looked to the stunned young couple. "And you must be the alien who thinks he is a threat to me. What were you doing here, Ben Skywalker, alien champion to the world?"

Around the stones, black-robed, silver-masked Death Eaters appeared. There were easily fifty of them, but the only one Ben watched was Voldemort.

The dark wizard thrummed with Dark Side energies stronger than anything Ben had ever felt. Even Jacen at his darkest could not compare with this. Not Lumiya. In his mind, the only comparison Ben could make was to the Emperor himself. He never saw the man, but his father had shared memories of what Emperor Palpatine was like.

Voldemort had the same presence, and the same aura of threat and danger. The same overwhelming power.

"What were you doing?" Voldemort said again. His wand appeared from nowhere in his hand and Ben felt a power overwhelm his mental shields. The power stripped his legs of strength and sent him to his knees. "What were you doing here?"

"We're just kids," Luna said. "Why do you think we would know?"

"The interesting Mrs. Skywalker," Voldemort said. "I have someone who very much wants to meet you."

Ben's body relaxed when Voldemort passed the attention of his powerful mind to Luna. He quickly reassembled his mental shields and pushed himself back to his feet.

One of the Death Eaters removed a mask. Ben was surprised to see an attractive woman, forty years of age or less, with almost white-blonde hair not too dissimilar from Luna's. He remembered her immediately from the goblin bank. The woman blinked as she removed the mask and dropped her hood. She walked across the circle as Voldemort watched.

She stopped before the young couple. "You killed my son," she said to Ben. "My only son. Then you killed my husband. You are going to die. But not before you see the one you love suffer and die first."

Ben responded with the finely honed reflexes and skill of a Jedi. Narcissa Malfoy flew across the circle and slammed into a standing stone between three other Death Eaters. As Voldemort and all his forces spoke spells, Ben summoned Luna to his side, poured all the Force energy he could into his legs, and leaped as high as the Force would allow.

He put her down to run, but came up short.

Voldemort did not jump. He did not run.

The Dark Lord flew. He passed right over the young couple and drifted gently to the ground beyond the circle of stones. "Going so soon?" he said with a sneer.

The Dark Lord flicked his wand. Ben turned in horror as Luna flew out of his gasp with a startled cry. She landed in the waiting arms of three Death Eaters, with a disheveled Narcissa Malfoy behind them. Luna started to struggle when one of the minions reared a fist back and punched her hard in the chin.

With an angry roar Ben pulled the Death Eater to him and lit his lightsaber. The man lost his head in mid-flight, but before he could reach the others he felt an unbelievable power grab his body and toss him easily into the air.

He spun around with Jedi reflexes and landed on his feet, ready for combat. "So the puppy has teeth after all," Voldemort said with a smile. "Good, I was so hoping this would be fun. But truly, I think you need more motivation."

Malfoy smiled sweetly as she removed a wand from her robe. The wand had a strange aura around it. Ben realized with a sickening feeling that it was a portkey. "Say goodbye to your little boy, dear cousin Luna. This will be the last time you see him."

"Poor Narcissa was so hoping to make you watch your wife die," Voldemort said. "Perhaps you might still. But I do believe it will give you more motivation this way, don't you agree?"

Malfoy grabbed the still-stunned Luna and activated the portkey. With a pop, Ben's wife was taken away from him.

"Now," Voldemort said, "whatever shall we do?"


	24. The Boy Who Died

**Chapter Twenty-Four: The Boy Who Died, But Changed His Mind**

Ben stared into the space his wife once occupied. It felt as if a hole had been torn in his mind—in his soul. He could not feel her anywhere.

"Where is she?" he whispered in a cracked voice.

"She is someplace you can never reach," Voldemort said with a seemingly sympathetic smile. "A place so heavily warded not even I could penetrate, but for having the key. But don't worry, you'll see her soon enough. You see, we are going to torture her for quite some time. My Death Eaters are going to take their pleasure with her, Ben. They are going to beat her and torture her. Rape her and maim her. We are going to make her scream again and again, bring her to the brink of death and then heal her so that we can torture her again and again. It will likely take weeks, possibly even months, for her to die. When she is dead, I shall resurrect her dead body and make her into one of my Inferi. I will have crushed you by then. If you live, I will have her undead corpse tear you to pieces. Or, if you're very lucky, you might die here and simply see her in the beyond—assuming I allow your soul to continue to exist. _Crucio!_"

The Dark Lord's casual tone betrayed the horror his words conveyed. Somehow, he was completely shielded from the Force, and so Ben did not sense the danger until it was too late. Pain struck his body all over.

It was just as bad as the Embrace of Pain his loving cousin had placed him in toward the end of the Alliance civil war. Instant, body-wide agony. Ben took a deep, gasping breath and with the Force as his ally shunted the pain aside. He stood, shaking.

Voldemort's eyes widened. "_Crucio!_" the Dark Lord screamed.

The power behind the pain spell tripled. Ben's whole body thrummed, but he kept his consciousness apart from it. The Dark Lord's magic was stronger than anything Ben had ever felt before, but he was a Jedi. Moreover, he had felt such pain before. He did not fall to Jacen's Embrace of Pain; he refused to fall to this creature.

He grasped the Force, shunted it through his trembling magical core, and without bothering to draw his wand, screamed out, "_Incendio_!"

Fire burst like napalm from his bare hand. With an angry snarl and faster reflexes than Ben would have believed the Dark Lord rolled away from the powerful spell. Two of the Death Eaters behind him were not so lucky and screamed in agony as they fell burning to the ground.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" Voldemort roared.

Powerful, sickly green light shot at Ben. Without conscious thought Ben brought his saber up to deflect the blast. However, Ben had never used his saber on a spell of such power. The killing curse from Snape or Dolohov was one thing. It was entirely different coming from the most powerful wizard in history. His body was out of the way of the spell, but when it struck his grandfather's blue lightsaber, the blade of Anakin Skywalker exploded.

"Aggghhh!" Ben cried as shrapnel ripped through his hand.

"You think your muggle toys can stop me?" Voldemort said with a high-picked laugh. "You think anything can stop me?"

He flicked his wand and the ground before Ben exploded as if struck by a turbolaser. The concussive force of it threw him fifteen feet off the ground. He landed among a circle of Death Eaters.

Ben lashed out with the Force and the circle of men flew away from him. He scrambled to his feet and ducked as other spells rushed at him. With his left hand he pulled his wand. "_Protego!"_ he called as he ran.

His magical shield blocked most of the incoming spells, until he saw another sickly green death curse flying toward him. He abandoned the shield and rolled away. He came to his feet, used the Force to supercharge his magic and sent a blasting curse into the largest clumping of Death Eaters.

"Very nice, little boy," Voldemort's voice said behind him.

Another overpowered blast came without warning to either his Force or mundane senses, and again Ben felt his body blown through the air. He turned to the Dark Lord in mid-flight and launched a barrage of curses and spells while cradling his shattered hand before somersaulting and landing on his feet.

Voldemort batted the spells aside with a negligent twist of his wand. He moved almost as if he had Jedi reflexes—like he was able to anticipate Ben's every action.

The other Death Eaters struck again, and once more Ben had to jump away.

Voldemort laughed. "How entertaining this is," he said. "But I could make it even more so. _Expelliarmus_!"

Ben snarled in frustration as the spell struck and ripped his wand away while at the same time sending him barreling back against one of the megaliths. Voldemort held up his wand with a flick. "Let's see what happens without this, shall we?"

Again Death Eaters fired their spells. Ben used the Force to summon rocks to block those he could, and dodged the rest. Some of the rocks launched with bullet-like velocity at the faces of his attackers. Two fell with shattered faces and broken skulls.

"He's resilient, if nothing else, isn't he my brethren?" Voldemort said.

The Dark Lord reached out with his and caught Ben mid leap. Ben froze in the air, his arms suddenly clamped to his side in a full body-bind. "I almost regret interrupting the entertainment," Voldemort said. "It has been truly entertaining. It is even more so when I think of all the delightful things we are going to do to your delectable little wife. I shall enjoy watching her scream."

The words washed over Ben like a rain of curses. He felt his mental shields easily batted away as the Dark Lord inundated his consciousness with images of Luna suffering. His eyes watered as his rage flared.

Jacen had tried so hard to turn Ben to the Dark Side. He killed Ben's mother, killed Ben's first love. Forced Ben to become a murderer. He tainted Ben's soul and put him in the Embrace of Pain. But in all that time, for all the anger he felt, Ben had never felt such rage as he did at the moment he saw Luna suffering in his mind.

The rage exploded like a supernova in his brain. With a scream he ripped apart the full Body Bind. He lifted both hands—the shattered one and the one whole—and with a cry of absolute anger unleashed all the power he had.

Voldemort had a brief look of surprise before the Force lightning rippled through him and his forces.

Ben did not let go of the power. He swept it over all the Death Eaters around him. Some screamed in pain, others fell dead where they stood. None remained standing, not even Voldemort himself. The sorcerer picked himself up and with a snarl of rage sent a wandless blasting spell into Ben.

The impact sent the young Jedi careening through the air. He landed with a sickening crunch as his ribs snapped. His anger burned the pain aside as he jumped to his feet. "_Incidio maxima_!" he cried out.

A stream of fire so intense it came out almost as a beam of pure heat lashed out toward the Dark Lord. Voldemort raised his shield as the fire struck. With an angry cry, Voldemort watched the fire burn through his shield. He ducked aside, but not before the heat seared a darkened line across his cheek.

"The game has lost its appeal," the Dark Lord hissed. He raised both hands. This time, Ben felt a warning in the Force. He felt more than a warning; he felt doom descending. He felt his death coming at him.

A wave of magic exploded from the Dark Lord in a ring. It passed over those remaining Death Eaters without harming them. It passed through the rocks without harming them. Ben braced himself to jump over it, but in addition to the explosion of magic Voldemort somehow also caught him in a wandless body-bind. He could do nothing more than watched as the ring of death approached.

It struck him mid-chest. He felt his chest rip apart. He felt the dark magic rip through his cells, through the whole of his body. He had a sensation of flying through the air, of calling in a heap to the ground.

Then there was darkness.

"Ben!" The gray haired man in the brown robes gasped for breath as he opened his eyes. It took a moment for him to orient himself to his surroundings. A moment ago, he had been on a grassy field on a strange world watching his only son die.

"We have a beacon signal!"

He looked up in momentary confusion at the woman standing before him. She stood tall and proud, but with haunted eyes far older than her thirty-three years of life. Finally, though, her words caught up to him. "You have it?"

"Yes, Uncle. But there's something else…"

"I sense it too, Jaina. He's wounded and in terrible danger. Are we en route?"

"Dad set the coordinates as soon as we got them. It's deep in the Unknown Regions. Who knows what we're going to find."

"Who knows indeed," Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker said. "Thank you for coming, Jaina."

"He's family," Jaina said. Her expression darkened. "I…we owe it to him."

Luke nodded. "Yes, we do. All of us."

Jaina Solo turned and left the cramped quarters, and was replaced a moment later by a woman Luke had not seen in decades. Akanah Norand Goss Pell had once loved Luke Skywalker, many years ago. Although the circumstances that brought them together were false, the love that she felt was very real. His inability to ever forget her deception broke her heart.

Many years later, when he came to her with a story of his only son being lost on a hidden planet, where the only sign from the galaxy at large was a Fallanassi glyph, she really felt she had no choice but to assist him. For the feelings she once had to him, and for the debt she felt she owed him for the way she had lied to him to gain his help, she agreed to accompany him.

He looked up at her now with a sad, concerned smile on his face. "The Force tells me Ben is in danger. That we may already be too late."

Akanah touched the White Current. "I feel it too," she said. "We are going toward this world as fast as we can. If there is anything we can do for him, we will."

She sat down next to him on the small bench he occupied. "I never sent you my condolences for the loss of your wife. I know she was a woman of great passion."

Luke nodded. Even after two years, it was difficult to talk about it. "As passionate as she was, she was always my anchor. You warned me once about abusing my powers. Mara did the same thing. She made sure I never became consumed by the Force. She was my guide. Without her…"

"You feel lost," Akanah finished.

"Yes," Luke admitted. "Ben and I both."

The Fallanassi adept leaned over and took his hand. "Luke, no one can truly understand what you and your son have gone through. But I will tell you this. No one who truly loved you would want you or Ben to put your lives on hold. Live your life as best you can. And the first step is to save your son. Whatever it takes."

Luke squeezed her hand. "The years have been kind to you, Akanah. Still as beautiful as ever, but as wise as you can be."

"And do not forget it," the Fallanasi adept said. "We'll find him, Luke. Trust in your Force as I trust in the Current. It will all flow together, and we will find him."

"I just hope we're in time," Luke said.

_There was darkness._

A flash of light. The voice of a loved one crying out in pain. Luna. She was hurting. They were hurting her. She was crying and they were laughing at her pain.

_Quiet. Darkness._

A flash of light. The sound of Naricssa Malfoy's voice whispering promises of agony. "You are going to pay for the loss of my son. My Draco," she whispered. "Even if I have to keep you alive for weeks, I will make you suffer."

Luna, her voice harsh and torn by screams, whispered, "It won't bring him back."

"I don't care," Narcissa said. "All I care about is for your precious Ben to understand what it is to lose everything."

_Quiet, darkness._

No flash of light, just the sound of quiet weeping. A harsh, pained whisper saying, "Oh Ben, please be all right."

_Darkness._

A voice. "Hello, Ben."

A spot of white. The spot expanded.

Ben became aware of white around him. He became aware of his body, sitting cross-legged on the whiteness. Before him sat…Albus Dumbledore?

"I've passed into the Force," he whispered.

"You are very close," the deceased headmaster said. "Close, but not quite there. The question is whether you wish to move on, or if you have things left to do."

"Luna." Even in death, his voice broke. "She's in pain. They're hurting her."

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "I'm so terribly, terribly sorry, my boy."

"It's not your fault."

"Perhaps it is, more than you realize," Dumbledore whispered. "There was no prophecy, Ben. Sybil Trelawney was a true oracle, but her last moments were spent in a deep coma. She slipped into the final darkness without uttering a word."

"But…"

"I sensed your power, Ben. But more, I sensed the promise that you and your people could bring. I knew about what Hildegard had done all those centuries ago. All headmasters were given information regarding the Fallanassi legacy to the wizarding world. Rowena Ravenclaw spoke the language clearly and left many treatises on what to do should this world ever be endangered. Only we headmasters had this information. I just wish I had the time to help you more, but I knew my death was coming."

Ben felt no anger. He felt no pain. He was calmer than he ever could remember. "So it was a lie?"

"A lie, yes. I made it up right there on the spot to get the other Order Members to accept you," Dumbledore agreed. "We needed you Ben. I did not realize at first the bond you shared with Luna, but I did know the potential you had for our fight. I'm sorry it ended like this."

"It is over, then?"

"You're very badly hurt, Ben. You should be dead. But for some reason you are clinging to life."

"Luna is hurting. I have to save her."

"Yes, your love for her is very strong. Stronger than anything I've seen in my many years. Perhaps that is why you have not passed over yet. Love can be especially powerful."

"You're saying I'm not dead because I love Luna?"

"I'm saying that you are not dead because she still needs you. You're love is so strong that you will do anything to protect Luna. And in your case, because of your bond and your power, that seems to include even holding off the grasp of death itself."

In the whiteness of near death, where everything was calm, Ben said, "I touched the dark side. I let my rage overcome my sense."

"You let your love turn into anger, and that's why you lost the fight," Dumbledore said. "You may have touched the darkness, Ben, but your love can keep you from going over that precipice. Remember that. Your love can do almost anything, if you let it."

_Quiet. Darkness. Dumbledore was gone. The whiteness was gone._

"My God, Ben!"

He thought he recognized the voice, but it sounded distant. Strange.

"Is he alive?"

"Just barely. I don't understand how, though. He should have died hours ago."

"What do we do?"

"We can't take him to St. Mungo's. The ministry has the place under complete control."

"There's always Hogwarts." Ben recognized that voice at last. Sirius Black?

"Are you insane, Sirius?" One of the Weasleys, Ben thought. "Voldemort has his people there too."

"Yeah, but we have our people there too, now, don't we?"

"Sirius is right, Bill." That was Hermione. "And Madam Pomphrey."

"Hermione," Ben struggled to speak.

"Oh God, he's awake!" Hermione said. He could not open his eyes to look at her, but as his consciousness continued to rise, he felt her in the Force kneel down. "Ben, what happened?"

"We worked the spell," Ben said weakly. "It's done. But Voldemort killed Flamel. Her…they have Luna. Malfoy's mother. They're hurting her. I can feel them hurting her."

"The wards are still down at Hogwarts," Sirius pointed out. "The Dark Lord wasn't ever able to get them re-established."

"I don't think we can move him," Hermione said.

"I don't think we have a choice," Bill Weasley said.

Ben felt arms wrap around him. The touch was pure agony. "I'm sorry, Ben," Hermione whispered into his ear.

Pain a thousand times worse than the Cruciatus curse or the Embrace of Pain tore through his mind as Hermione carried him in a side-along apparition. Just as quickly as it happened, though, the pain dulled back to its previous levels.

"What is going on here?" a new voice asked. It was Pomphrey. "Miss Granger, what is…Merlin's beard, what happened to him?"

"Voldemort," Black said. "We didn't dare take him to St. Mungos."

"So you brought him here, you idiot man? The Carrows are here."

"Please help us!" Hermione pleaded.

"Oh all right," the mediwitch said. "Come on, levitate him into the faculty rooms."

Ben felt a gentle spell lift him from the floor. He was aware of floating. Then a bed. He heard voices as consciousness faded into black.

He heard Luna weeping. He felt her pain.

The agony morphed and changed. It became more immediate and desperate. It settled around his mind like a terrible weight. He forced his eyes open.

Madam Pomphrey nodded in a chair beside him. Across the aisle was none other than Filius Flitwick, finishing up his own convalescence. "Poppy, our young friend is awake!"

The mediwitch's head popped up. "Oh, indeed," she said quickly. "Mr. Skywalker, I've only seen you three times, including this. And I must say it is three times too many."

"I agree," Ben said, or at least, he thought he agreed. What came out was a muffled grunt.

"Don't try talking, your throat was injured." The nurse shook her head. "I suppose it doesn't make sense to list individual injuries. Everything on your body was injured. I mean everything. Very nearly every bone in your body was broken. Your blood was poisoned. Your chest was slashed open to the ribcage. It looked very much like you were hit with every offensive curse there was short of the Death Curse, and hit all at once. Frankly, it should have been even more effective than the Death Curse. I don't understand how you were able to make it."

"Luna," Ben managed to whisper.

"Well, you're not going to be rescuing anyone any time soon," Pomphrey said. "I've never seen injuries like this survived. I've had to banish half your bones and regrow them with skelegrow potion. You can't even walk right now."

"I've got to save her," he said.

"I know, Ben," Pomphrey said gently. "And I'll do everything in my power to help you. But I won't lie to you, son. You don't just get up from wounds like this. It's going to take time."

"Luna doesn't have time," Ben said.

"We have company," Flitwick said. Pomphrey jumped to her feet. "Filius, now!"

The charms professor flicked his wand and disillusioned himself, and then from behind the invisibility spell, did the same to Ben. A moment later, Amycus Carrow stepped into the room. "I heard voices," he said to Pomphrey.

"I'm sure I have a potion for that," Pomphrey said. Despite his pain and fear for his wife, for a moment Ben thought the mediwitch sounded exactly like Luna.

"No jokes, woman," Carrow said. "Where is the half-breed professor? I know he's in here! You can't hide him forever!" He removed his wand. "Do I have to start cursing the beds at random?"

"That won't be necessary," Flitwick said. He disillusioned himself. "I haven't been hiding," the diminutive man said. "I've been healing. When the school fell, I just never got around to reporting for duty."

Carrow sneered at the charms professor. "For that you'll loose your job!" he said. "There is no place in an institution like this for half-breeds."

"No, I suppose there isn't," Flitwick said. He continued smiling at the despicable Death Eater. "You'll have my resignation by morning, and my absence shortly thereafter."

"I'll have you thrown in Azkaban, you lousy little runt!" Carrow screamed.

Suddenly Alecto Carrow careened into the room with a pair of their pet Death Eaters in tow. "Amycus, get out here!"

"What, woman?"

"Get out here, the bleedin' sky is falling!"


	25. The Aliens from Outer Space

**Chapter Twenty-Five: The Aliens From Outer Space**

"I'm not reading any anything beyond low-spectrum EM transmission," Han Solo said. "The place is buzzing with satellites and debris in orbit, but no actual orbital traffic. I'd say we're either looking at a very poor planet, or a pre-hyperspace planet."

"Ben indicated it was a primitive world," Luke said.

There was something special about the three of them sitting in the cockpit, though none thought to speak of it. Han Solo, pushing seventy now but still vibrant and healthy, sat behind the controls of his trusted freighter. Next to him sat the love his life and his wife of several decades, Leia Organa-Solo, Jedi Master.

Behind Han sat Luke Skywalker, Jedi Grand Master.

And in the spot behind Leia sat C-3PO.

There seemed to be a shadow in the cramped outrigger cockpit as well. A large, furry presence that was startling by its absence. But there were also new additions to the three old friends and their droid. "Dad, are you sure it was a good idea bringing Amelia here too?" Jaina Solo asked.

"I'm a big girl!" six-year-old Amelia Solo cried from the narrow passage leading to the outrigger cockpit of the _Millennium Falcon_.

"You bet you are," another familiar voice said as Corran Horn peaked out from behind Jaina with the Solo's granddaughter in his arms. "We there yet?" the other Jedi master asked in a boyish voice that belayed his sixty years.

Han Solo shook his head. "Don't know what I was thinking, letting so many kriffin' Jedi on my ship."

"You're married to one," Leia reminded him archly.

"Which means I should a known better!" Han said. He took a deep breath. "Alright, looks we got a solid lock on the beacon. It'd moved when we first made orbit, but it's settled down now. Looks like it's located in the northern hemisphere, on a large island just off the largest of the planetary continents. Leia, what do you see on scans?"

"Lots of air traffic in the area," she said. "Good thing you decided to keep that stealth sheathing on the hull. Looks like their detection methods are radar-based. Unless someone actually sees us coming in, we shouldn't be detected."

"All right," Han said. "Everyone buckle up, we're dropping down the well."

As the _Falcon_ began its descent into the atmosphere well past the terminator, the sun disappeared below the horizon and the island-nation below them glowed with the light of their post-industrial but pre-space flight civilization.

"Watch out for those aircraft," Leia noted.

"I see them," Han said as he spun the whole _Falcon_ to keep from hitting the two fighter-craft flying constant patrol over England's borders.

The two pilots in question, both flying RAF Tornado F3s, saw a large, black disc soar past them at Mach 4, but it disappeared from view before they could reorient their planes from the vortex caused by its passage. They never detected it on their RADAR screens.

Han ignored them. These people likely didn't have anything that could penetrate the _Falcon's_ deflector screens anyway, he reasoned.

"We're coming down. The screen tells me the beacon is…" Han blinked. "Okay, it appears to be in the middle of an empty valley."

Luke leaned between his sister and oldest friend. "It's not empty," he said.

"Luke, you can see that too?" Leia whispered.

"It's blazing with power," the Jedi Master agreed.

"Let me see!" Jaina said. She pushed her uncle aside like a little girl, only to suck in her breath. "Krif!" she swore. "That place is glowing! What'd they do, build it on a nexus? Not even Degobah has places that glow that bright in the Force."

"Still can't see a damned thing," Han said. "Stupid Jedi."

Leia leaned over their seats and gave him a good solid kiss on his cheek. "I love you. Now shut up and land us."

"Where? All I see is an empty valley."

Luke reached a hand and took Han's shoulder. With a nudge of the Force and a skill no other in the ship could have managed so easily, he shifted his brother in law's perception.

Han swore. "Okay, I see it now."

Luke closed his eyes. "Ben," he whispered aloud. "Hear me."

"I'm bringing her down," Han said. "Looks like we have a welcoming party, too. I guess…hey, wait a sec. Are those sticks? Or those people waving sticks at us?"

Suddenly the sticks started flashing splashes of different colored light up at the ship. The lights impacted the shields with odd thumps and thuds, almost like low-powered blaster bolts. Both Han and Leia looked down when they saw a drain on the shields, however light. "They're shooting paintballs at us?" Jaina asked in confusion.

Luke opened his eyes. "Those are spells," he said. "Somehow the Force expresses itself as magic on this world. Those spells can kill. If not for the deflector screens, we'd be taking damage."

"So what do we do, Luke?" Leia asked.

"Ben's in the castle," Luke said calmly. "He's been terribly hurt, and more. And he was hurt by those people. They're servants of the Dark Lord he told us about."

"Does that make them fair game?" Han said.

"Do we really want to get into the middle of a civil war on a backward planet?" Leia asked.

"Sure, why not?" Jaina said with a shrug. "It's been a couple of years since our last one." No one mistook the deep bitterness underlying her morbid humor.

Behind them Corran snorted. "Stuff like that never stopped any of you people before, why let it start now?"

"I'll man the ventral quad laser," Jaina said. She was out of the cockpit in a second.

"Isn't that like using an e-web to swat a bug?" Leia asked.

"If the bug is shooting killer sparkly light balls at us, why not?" Han asked. He shrugged as well, and it was a perfect mirror image of Jaina's earlier gesture.

A moment later Jaina's voice came over the ship's com. Only, she was not talking to them. "This is my dad's ship, Valin, so I get to fire the big guns. Just go back and buckle up. All right, Dad. I'm ready. Uncle, just give me the go."

Luke looked down at the Death Eaters. "I can't sense anything but hate and fear in them," he admitted sadly.

"I can sense worse than that," Leia whispered. "They're murderers."

"That's my cue, then," Jaina said. She opened up the ventral quad laser cannon of the _Millennium Falcon_, a weapon that could destroy TIE fighters with a single shot, directly into the fifty wizards standing at the opening of the strangely Force-strong castle.

Five seconds later, when the smoke and steam cleared, most of the bodies were not even recognizable, and there were far more than fifty pieces.

"All right, I'm taking us down," Han said.

The ship came to a landing so gentle those within could not even tell the exact moment when the _Falcon_ came to rest.

"Get out here, the bleedin' sky is falling!"

No one could miss the fear in the Death Eater's eyes as she called for help. Alecto did not even sneer at the Hogwarts staff he left behind as he ran outside. Almost as soon as they were gone, Filius hopped whole and untouched form his bed.

"I knew you were just faking it!" Pomphrey said.

"Of course," Filius said. "How else could I continue to have the most beautiful witch in the castle take care of me?"

"Oh you!" Pomphrey said with an expression between irritation and affection.

"Get Minerva," Flitwick said. He turned to Ben. "Did you hear, Ben? The sky is falling. What do you think that means?"

Ben's eyes were closed though. However, his smile was obvious. With his eyes still closed, he said, "My father has come, and he's brought friends."

"Well then," Filius said with a high-picked laugh that sounded almost like a cackle, "I suppose we should go meet them."

The charms professor was just outside the hospital wing when every Death Eater in the school rushed past toward the main doors. They spilled out, ran through the narrow courtyard and collected themselves on the edge of the grounds leading down to Hogsmeade. Filius followed. A moment later Minerva joined him. "Filius, what is going on here?" she demanded.

"It appears the elder Mr. Skywalker has decided to visit the school," Flitwick said with a joyous cackle. The two stopped at the edge of the courtyard and watched as the Death Eaters, led by the Carrow siblings, began tossing offensive curses up at the black, dish-shaped object hovering just above the grounds. The disk was a shade of black so pure it seemed to absorb light, though brilliant spotlights flashed down from it onto the ground where the Death Eaters fired their curses.

A moment later, Horace Slughorn arrived in his nightgown. "Has it finally begun?" he said with tired resignation. "Are we finally going to die?"

"I have a feeling someone is," Flitwick said with an eager chortle.

Seconds later, Hermione Granger, Sirius Black, and Charlie and Bill Weasley joined them. "What in the name of Merlin are you four doing here?" Slughorn said when he saw the four of them. "If the Carrows find out you're here, we'll all be killed!"

Suddenly the world exploded. Brilliant, staccato bursts of red light streaked down from the center of the saucer-shaped craft and ripped into the earth and the Death Eaters upon it with stunning power. Death Eaters screamed, but only for a moment before the red lights chewed them up as thoroughly as it chewed up the soil. The whole barrage lasted just seconds, but when it ended there was not a single Death Eater left alive.

"I don't think the Carrows are going to be a problem," Black said gleefully. "What is it about watching Death Eaters die that gets me so randy?"

"Sirius, that is disgusting," Hermione said.

"Does that mean we're not going to…."

"Not now, and not ever if you complete that sentence," Hermione said quickly.

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Really."

They watched as the ship came to gentle rest on the ground. "Well," Hermione said with a note of determination in her voice and a hard set to her eyes, "might as well go meet them."

"Sweetie," Sirius called after her. "Sugar plums, we may not want to get too close the people with the big light guns that kill Death Eaters."

"Sugar plums?" Hermione called over her shoulder. "We're definitely not now!"

"Damn it," Black muttered.

Hermione marched resolutely across the field and made a conscious effort to not look at the ground. Every single burst of light from the cannon or whatever it was resulted in a crater in the ground. There were four barrels, and though it only fired for a few seconds, it produced a lot of shots. It was literally like trying to walk on a moonwalk.

Finally, though, she made it past the field of carnage until she stood near the ship. Through the clear windows of a strange projection off the side of the saucer, she could see humans moving. She took a deep breath, and simply waited.

Light flared out from the lower side of the craft. A ramp slowly dropped with a mechanical hum, lit by the brilliance from within. A moment later, she saw legs, then a torso, and finally the complete form of a man. He appeared to be in his late fifties or early sixties, but still very fit and active. His hair had hints of blonde, but was now mostly grey. What caught her attention in the lights from the ship, though, were the clear, sky blue of the man's eyes. Accentuating that color was a presence of determination and calm. And power.

Hermione took a deep breath as the man's power swept past her. He scanned the whole school and everyone in it with a wave of intense energy. It felt to her magic much like Ben's power when he used the Force instead of magic, only magnified.

Finally, his blue eyes fell back on her, and she had no doubt that she was looking at Luke Skywalker.

"Hello," she said simply.

He spoke a word, but it made no sense. Neither did the golden figure that shambled oddly from the ship behind him. Its eyes held a golden glow, and as it approached Hermione realized that she was staring at a robot of some kind. It said another strange word to her. "I'm sorry, I can't understand," she said.

She reached for her wand to do a language spell when the robot spoke perfectly clear English with a distinct BBC accent. "Well, how odd. This language is not one I have had the opportunity to ever use."

"You speak English?"

"Is that what you call it? It is actually a synthesis of several different languages. I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations."

"My name is Hermione Granger, and if that is Luke Skywalker, Ben is in the castle."

"Ben," Luke said immediately. Hermione nodded. The droid spoke something in their native language. Hermione held up her wand.

"I would like you're permission to cast a language spell on you so you don't need a translation. It is how we learned to speak with Ben."

Luke stared at her so intently it felt as if he were looking at her very soul. In fact, as far as she knew he might have been doing that very thing. Eventually, though, he nodded.

Hermione stepped forward, placed the tip of her wand to his mouth and said, "_Omni lingua_."

"That is remarkable," Luke Skywalker said after a moment. "I sense your spell continued past me to the others."

"It's a cascading spell that feeds a little off your innate power to pass on to those around you that you know. You've already passed it on to the others in your party. They should all be able to understand us now."

Only then did others emerge from the ship. Hermione's eyes widened as she saw at least five other people emerge with lightsabers clipped to their belts. Another ageless woman with flawless dark skin in a white robe emerged, and finally a little girl holding the hand of what looked like her grandfather.

"Where is my son?" Luke asked. "I sensed that he was hurt."

"He is," Hermione said. "He fought Lord Voldemort and did not come out in good shape. Now that you've killed the Death Eaters that kept the school under siege, we can help you openly for now. But you should know that there may be more Death Eaters coming."

Aside from the woman in white robes, only one other person from the ship did not wear a lightsaber. He did, however, carry a very large blaster on his belt. He appeared older than Luke and was the grandfatherly figure holding the little girl's hand. He snorted in contempt. "Death Eaters? Your bad guys call themselves Death Eaters? That's about the dumbest thing I think I've ever heard."

"This coming from the man who claimed to have made the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs," the older woman beside him snorted.

"Hey, I had a very informal education. How was I supposed to know a parsec was a measurement of distance and not time. Par-_sec_. As in second."

Hermione shook her head, sensing that these people were a family. Ben's family. "Come on," she said.

They all followed without hesitation. "Quick introductions," Hermione said as she arrived. "This is my husband Sirius Black. This is Bill and Charlie Weasley. Professors Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick, and Headmaster Horace Slughorn."

"Only temporarily," Slughorn said. "I'm playing a role until this whole bloody war is over. And you must be Mr. Skywalker's family."

"We are," Luke said. "I am Ben's father Luke. This is my sister, Leia Organa Solo, and her husband Han. This beautiful young lady is Han's daughter Jaina, and his granddaughter Amelia. Also joining us are Jedi Master Corran Horn and his two children, Jedi Knights Valin and Jysella Horn. Finally, I have the honor to present Fallanassi Adept Akahan Noss Pell."

Those named nodded their greetings. When the brief exchange was done, Luke said with urgency, "Please, take us to my son."

By the time they reached the main doors, the halls were lined with terrified students wanting to know what was happening. Several gasped when they saw Hermione and Black among those entering. One of the Slytherins stepped forward. "Granger, what's going on?"

"Things are looking better, Daphne," Hermione said. "Please, try and get everyone back to their common rooms. It still might not be safe."

The Jedi looked around the halls with wide, awe-struck eyes. The castle architecture was nothing really special; it was the sheer power that thrummed through the walls that struck them as so incredible. "It feels almost like the castle itself is alive," Jysella Horn said.

Hermione turned to the girl, only a few years older than herself, and nodded. "In a sense it is. The magic the founders imbued into the castle has grown and taken on a life of its own. Perhaps in a few hundred more years, it might even develop a sentience of sorts."

"Wow," the girl said. She then stared intently at Hermione as they walked. "I'm a friend of Ben's."

Hermione sensed a lot behind the word "friend". Whatever Ben and Jysella shared, it had been strained to breaking in the past. "I am too," Hermione said. "I helped train Ben in our magic." She nodded to the doors of the hospital wing. "We're almost there."

Madame Pomphrey was standing just inside the door when the party arrived. She quickly swept her expert eye over the whole party before they alit on Luke Skywalker. "You are Ben's father," she said with absolute certainty.

"I am," Luke said.

"This way, please."

She led them into the smaller faculty room, to the only occupied bed.

Hermione followed a step behind the Jedi when she heard a gasp from Ben. Luke rushed forward until he knelt beside the bed and stared down at his son. "I told you I was coming," Luke said with a gentle, loving smile.

Ben nodded weakly. "Dad," he said, "they took Luna. They're hurting her." The younger Skywalker's voice cracked. "They're hurting my wife, Dad."

Nearby, Jysella sucked in a breath. All of them appeared surprised by the announcement, except for Luke himself. Gently, Luke took his son's head in his hands and pulled him forward marginally until he could embrace the younger man.

"They're hurting my wife," Ben said again as his grief broke through his Jedi training, and he wept.

One of the older members of their party, a woman in gray slacks and an off-white blouse, turned and stared at Hermione. It was Leia, if Hermione remembered correctly. "What does he mean by wife? Ben's only sixteen years old."

"He magically bonded with a girl named Luna Lovegood," Hermione explained. "They seemed to have a connection from the moment they met."

Behind Hermione, Professor Flitwick cleared his throat and stepped forward to address the crowd. Since bonding was classified as a type of charm, it fell squarely within his area of expertise. "Oh, it was more than just a magical bonding," Flitwick said from beside Hermione. "It was a soul bonding. Haven't felt anything like it in decades. They experienced some hardships together, and in the process of healing they fell so profoundly in love that their formed a soul bond. Body, magic and soul."

"And the Force," Hermione added. "Ben said it formed a Force bond too. That's a little outside my area of expertise. But I can tell you he loves her more than anything else, and she loves him. And she's been captured by Lord Voldemort."

"Kid's been beat up pretty bad," Han said. "We need to get him into the bacta tank on the _Falcon_. Place this primitive can't be good for him."

Madame Pomphrey harrumphed and looked as if she were about to rip into the captain when Luke shook his head. "We need more room." He stood and walked toward the main entrance. Behind him, Ben's bed gently lifted off the ground to follow. It was seamless, without even a hint of power being expended.

The others walked out of the faculty room to make way, and a moment later Luke followed with Ben's bed a step behind. The elder Jedi stopped in the center of the room and let the bed down. "Jedi, to me," he said as he knelt by his son. It was not even a command so much as a request, but all the Jedi responded without question. There was no doubt to any in the room that Luke was their undisputed leader.

A moment after the Jedi knelt down, the tall woman in the white robes knelt down beside Luke as well, and joined her own powers to those of her companions.

"What are they doing?" Slughorn asked.

"Force-healing," Hermione guessed.

"Just like when Ben pulled Luna out of Ravenclaw tower," Filius agreed. "They are going to use their own magic to heal…" He stopped.

They all stopped.

Power, foreign and exotic, yet breathtakingly beautiful, filled the room. There were no lights, no spells spoken. There were no visual clues at all, but the sheer power of the six Jedi so completely dominated their magical senses that Hermione actually had to blink and turn away.

"This might take a while," Pomphrey said, though she spoke softly and with obvious respect to what she was witnessing.

"What do we do now, Minerva?" Slughorn said.

"We summon the Order, that's what we do," Sirius said. "We summon the Order and any loyal aurors that are still out there."

"Sirius is right," Minerva said. "Now that Ben's family is here, this is the most logical line of defense." She removed the enchanted galleon from her robes and passed the message on. "I just hope it's enough."

Across the magical United Kingdom, enchanted galleons vibrated and grew warm to the touch. In Wales, Tonks reached into her pocket and removed hers, then grinned at the message. "What'd it say?" Remus Lupin asked from beside her.

The two were hunched over a table in a small magical inn, waiting. "It says Hogwarts is free, and that's where we need to go," she whispered.

Just then the three they were waiting for entered. Two wizards and a witch. All were painfully familiar to Tonks, though she knew they would not recognize her current form. Still, they seemed to recognize the description Tonks had passed to them and made their way to the table.

"We're here," the witch said. "What did you want to talk about?"

Tonks leaned forward until the newcomers obscured her features from the rest of the room, and shifted just for a moment to her own face. She leaned back a second later and smiled, now in the form of a sandy-headed boy of nineteen. "Are you loyal to the Ministry, or to New Order?" she whispered.

The witch looked at her two colleagues before she nodded. "We couldn't fight, but we refused to serve."

"You can fight now," Tonks said. "Hogwarts is free again. The Order of the Phoenix is assembling. We'll need all the help we can get. Will you come?"

Without hesitation, the three former aurors nodded their emphatic agreement.

Across the country Kingsley Shacklebolt had similar meetings, as did Deadalus Diggle and more. Not all they met with were aurors. Some were newly fired ministry employees. Some were merely concerned citizens. But all agreed that they could no longer continue to watch a madman destroy their society.

As dawn arrived to the highlands of Scotland, wizards and witches began to apparate onto the grounds of the venerable old school. With almost all the school's wards still down, it was a simple matter to do so. The ten or so Order Members who arrived brought with them easily fifty witches and wizards, all of whom were determined to stand up at last to the threat that was Voldemort.


	26. The Magnificent Seven

**Chapter Twenty-Six: The Magnificent Seven**

"So what's your tactical situation?" Han Solo said to Minerva McGonagall as the newly risen sun shown through the windows of the hospital wing of Hogwarts.

While the Jedi and Akanah surrounded Ben Skywalker's bed, Han Solo found himself standing next to the bed where Amelia had finally crawled for some sleep. The old space hand was having a hard time adjusting to this world's diurnal cycle. Fortunately, he had napped on the _Falcon_ just before Luke announced that he could feel where Ben was.

McGonagall was not alone. The girl that first met them was there, the one with a pretty faced marred by a vicious scar, and her fiancé. Sirius Black, Han remembered.

Although Han spoke to the elder headmistress, it was Black who answered. "Our government's collapsed," the wizard said. "Our police force has been taken over. We've had remnants streaming in all morning. We think Voldemort has maybe three to four hundred hard-core followers. The rest follow him because they're afraid of him. We'll have maybe sixty, seventy fighters."

"Not good odds," Han said.

"And that's just among the wizards," McGonagall said. "He'll have trolls and giants, vampires and werewolves, and every other manner of dark creature to aid in his assault. We believe he's also raised an army of inferi—reanimated corpses."

Han tried not to think about that. "You sure he's going to attack, then?"

"Hogwarts is the last bastion of freedom in magical England," McGonagall said. "As soon as he learns that he's lost control, he'll have no choice but to attack."

Han nodded. "Well, we have an Alliance frigate about two sectors away that could probably lend a hand. The Chief of State pretty much owes her job to Luke, so he could probably get it assigned."

"A frigate?" Minerva asked.

"Hmmm," Han said with a grin. "They usually have a dozen squads of marines on board. No offense to those color-splash things you shoot, but magic ain't got nothing on a good blaster. Or two hundred good blasters supported by a few laser cannons and armored infantry."

"Captain Solo," Hermione said carefully, "the magical community has kept itself apart from the majority of this world for centuries. We'd really like to keep it that way. If a giant spaceship came and started landing soldiers, I'm pretty sure the muggle government would believe they were being invaded. I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Han shrugged. "No skin off my back. I'm just here because of the family."

In the bed, Amelia said in a distinct voice, "It's okay, Ben. We'll help you."

She was still sound asleep, but even in sleep her face was pointed toward the ring of Jedi. She was communing with them, even if only in her dreams.

"The child has a great deal of potential," Minerva said with the eye of a teacher. "If you should ever want to expand her education beyond just your own Force, it would be a great honor to have her here."

"Probably not going to happen," Han said quickly, "but thanks all the same. That girl's had a rough time of it. We've lost both our boys. She's the only piece of them we have left."

The awkward pause that followed was interrupted when Kingsley Shacklebolt walked into the room. He eyed the circle of Jedi carefully as he walked toward Minerva. "We've got people stationed around the castle," he said. "The Weasley boys are also helping us re-establish the anti-apparation wards. That should force them to have to come at us from the Forbidden Forest. There is a good field of fire from the castle."

"Really?" Han said. "General Han Solo, retired, formerly of the New Republic Defense Force." He held out a hand, which Kingsley took.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt, Head Auror."

"Nice to meet you, Kingsley. So, you're trying to set up a field of fire, huh? Where to you think would be the best place to set up some heavy weapons?"

"Heavy weapons?" Shacklebolt said. The auror looked excited.

"Well, you guys brought Ben's swoop with you when you got him here, and I see he attached his heavy blaster cannon to it. I have a few more on the _Falcon_, along with a couple of automated e-web emplacements. And it just so happens that I have one or two mounted portable laser cannons in storage. Maybe even a portable turbolaser."

"Muggle technology doesn't work around Hogwarts," McGonagall said.

"Maybe for your people. We detected a pretty strong EM field around the place," Han said. "I guess at your planet's state of technology that would be a problem. But if an EM burst were all it took to blow out a motivator or a droid brain, we'd have a complete break-down of everything every time someone fired off a nuke or a turbolaser during a battle. Everything we have is EM hardened. It'll work."

"More big guns?" Black said with a wolfish grin. "That sounds delightful. Come on Kingsley, let's go see General Solo's big guns."

Han stared at the two. "I've got a bad feeling about you, Mr. Black," he said. Then he grinned. "Never stopped me before, though. Come on."

In the Force, Ben saw everything clearly. He stood on the edge of the world, and looked about with eyes free of fear. He peered down at mansion in the south of the island, through the roof and floors, into a cellar. A sixteen-year-old girl huddled in a corner. Her once-blonde hair was now streaked with blood. Her clothes had long since been ripped away, and her whole body was ripe with bruises, cuts and a myriad list of abuses too gruesome to consider.

She stared absently at a wall. She had no expression. She did not cry. She did not speak. She barely breathed. Her ribs, some of them broken, protruded from her taught skin.

"I don't look very good, do I?" Luna asked from beside Ben.

He turned to her, and like himself saw a figure of mist and light and beauty. "I will save you," he said. "My father is here. My family. We will save you."

"I know, Ben," Luna said sadly. "But my love, I wonder if it is not too late. I'm so very tired. It hurts so very much. I love you, more than anything, but I'm so very tired."

He reached for her, but his ethereal hands passed through the mist of her soul. "Don't leave me," he begged her. "Please don't leave me."

The mist faded. Her presence disappeared. Then he felt the summons—a pull so strong he could not resist. Nor did he want to. The touch was familiar, strong and safe. He let himself fall back to the world below, soaring through the air, to a castle by a lake.

Ben sat up with a gasp. The other Jedi reared back, clearly exhausted.

It was lunch. The students had gone to the great hall for their mid-day meal as normal, though classes were suspended for the time being. Minerva was with her students, as was Flitwick and Slughorn. The only other people in the Hospital wing were Hermione, Sirius and two of the elder Weasleys, Bill and Charlie. The rest of the Order, and Han Solo, were busy preparing the defense of Hogwarts.

The first thing from Ben's mouth when he sat up was, "Luna!"

He looked frantically around the room, as if she were hiding there. He did not stop until he felt his father's arms gently embrace him. "Ben," Luke said softly.

"I saw her!" Ben said. "I saw her in the Force." His voice broke as tears welled in his eyes. "They're hurt her so bad, Father! I…I think she wants to give up."

"We won't let that happen," Luke said gently. He stood and took a breath, then looked at the other Jedi. "All of you, get some rest and get something to eat. Ben and I need to talk."

"Yes, Master Luke," Jysella answered automatically. They all turned to leave, though the white-robed woman named Akanah lingered.

She gently touched Ben's cheek. "Violence is the last resort for any sane person," she said, "but know this. I will help you in any way I can to save your loved one."

"She is Fallanassi," Ben told her. "She can fold things in and out of the Current even without training."

Akanah smiled. "All the more reason to save her, then." She left with a gentle nod.

Luke looked back at the waiting wizards. "Thank you for your assistance," he told them in a clear dismissal. "I'll speak to you shortly. For now, may I have time with my son?"

Hermione nodded tersely and grabbed Sirius' hand to lead him away. The Weasley boys followed a few steps behind. Finally, they were alone.

Luke led his son to a window and sat him down on a bed before he summoned a chair and sat himself. "I'll need more than just words," Luke said. "I need you to show me what has happened since we last spoke through the Force."

Ben nodded. Father and son leaned forward until their heads touched. Luke reached up a hand and held the back of Ben's neck, while Ben did the same to his father, and both of them sank so deeply into the Force that from an outsider's perspective they appeared dead.

When the other Jedi returned from a meal in a private room, they found the two in the same position, though they could feel that the Skywalkers were drifting up from an intense meditation. Finally, Ben and Luke both blinked as they freed themselves.

Only then did Leia come and sit down on the bed beside her nephew. She pulled Ben into a hug. "How are you feeling?" she said.

"Tired, but alive," he said. "A lot better than I was expecting."

"This Voldemort is powerful," Luke said.

Ben nodded. "I never had a chance. I had both the Force and magic, and I was able to defeat a lot of his servants. I grew arrogant, but I wasn't ready. And when he took her…" His voice broke. "I touched the Dark Side, Father. I was so angry. So desperate."

"It is the curse of this family, it seems," Luke said.

On the bed, Leia bowed her head in acknowledgement of that terrible fact. She lost her youngest son to war. She lost her eldest son to Darkness.

"Though there is darkness in you," Luke said, "I sense your love as well. I don't pretend to understand the bond you have with this girl. For all that I loved your mother, and for the Force bond we shared, what you have with Luna is even more intense. And that is why we will get her back for you, Ben."

"What's the plan?" Leia asked.

"A strike force on swoops," Luke said. "There are four in the Falcon. With Ben's that's enough to get us where we need to go. Ben, can you still feel her?"

"I can't," Ben said. "But I know where she was. I saw the whole country in the Force and saw where she was."

"That's enough," Luke said. He turned to his sister. "These wizards fight with magic. Where we draw energy from the Force that is all around us, they appear to draw magic from within themselves and only then does that inner core replenish itself from what we call the Force. Many Jedi all have similar cores of magic, we have just never trained to use it. Ben has."

"I lost my lightsaber," Ben admitted. "I tried to deflect a killing curse. I've done it before. But Voldemort's power was so strong it blew the blade. I have my wand, though."

"Hence your hand," Luke said.

Ben looked down, expecting to find a stump. He stared in shock at an intact hand. However, it was covered in a web-like pattern of scars. "The magical healing of this place is remarkable," Luke said. "The witch, Pomphrey, said she magically removed the shattered bones in your hand and regrew them with a potion. She re-grew the tendons and muscles as well. Added with our Force-healing, you are whole."

"We are going to destroy Voldemort?" Ben asked with a note of hope.

"We are going to save your wife," Luke said. "That is our primary consideration."

Leia's brows rose. "You're accepting their story about being married?"

He looked at his sister. "Leia, I sensed her in the Force. She sent me a powerful, clear vision of the future. She is his wife. In her mind, she always has been, and always will be. And I will not deny the bond I feel in my son, and the pain. I accept his marriage and bless it."

Leia nodded and accepted the decision. "Okay. I'll get Han to pull out the swoops then, assuming he's done playing with the rest of his toys."

"We'll also need one of the wizards to come with us," Luke told Ben.

"Probably Sirius Black," Ben said. "Besides, I think he'd probably enjoy riding on the swoop more than anyone else."

Luke stood. "Perhaps. It will take some time to get everything ready. I know you are desperate, and we will waste no time, but we both will need our strength. Where can we get some food?"

The Great Hall, when they arrived, was still mostly full. With the terror of Death Eaters and the Carrows, most students tried to stay together as much as possible. McGonagall had not told anyone what happened the previous night, but it didn't take a Ravenclaw to figure out the Death Eaters were gone.

When Ben and his father stepped through the doorway into the hall, all conversation stopped. McGonagall was still at the faculty table with Slughorn. Although the old potions professor was the official headmaster, it was McGonagall who stood to welcome the newcomers.

"Everyone, I believe now is as good a time as any to address the many rumors running through the school," McGonagall said. "I first wish to welcome Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and his fellow Jedi to our school. You may have seen them in the halls working with a contingent of former Aurors. Luke, as you may have guessed, is Ben's father.

"Last night, upon Master Skywalker's arrival, the Death Eaters here at Hogwarts attacked their…" she visible struggled to come up with an appropriate word for the _Falcon_… "vehicle. In response to this unwarranted attack, the occupants of the vehicle defended themselves. For the moment, Hogwarts is free."

The string of whispers and conversation started immediately. "For obvious reasons," McGonagall continued, "we are taking steps to insure the safety of all students here. Because the new Ministry has managed to cut off contact with other magical countries, we cannot get anyone of you out of England, but rest assured we will make sure each and every one of you remains safe in the days to come. Thank you."

She sat down while the students spoke amongst themselves. Meanwhile, Luke continued forward until he stood before McGonagall. "May we join you?" he asked simply.

The transfiguration professor blushed. "Where are my manners? Of course you may. Please, sit down. Ben, you should sit with your father, of course."

The two Jedi sat, and Luke viewed the food with obvious interest. "We will be going soon to retrieve my daughter in law," Luke said as he piled a healthy amount of food on his plate.

Ben was not hungry, but he did as well. He realized the need for the food, even if he had no heart or stomach for it. The only thing he cared about was the fact his wife was hurting. On the surface, it looked as if his father didn't care, but he knew that wasn't true. He could feel in the Force that his father would sooner give up his own life than to let Luna or anyone else suffer needlessly.

"Is there anything we can do?" McGonagall asked.

"We would benefit from having a wizard with us. Ben suggested Sirius Black."

McGonagall nodded. "He'd do well. He's taken a fancy to your muggle weapons."

"So Han has told me," Luke said. "I'll be taking all the Jedi with me. Han and Amelia will stay here, of course. A word about Han—is a retired general and has had many years of experience in wartime. He may not be Jedi or magical as you know it, but he will be a valuable asset."

McGonagall nodded. "I'll be happy for his company. Frankly, I always hoped it would never come to this. It feels like this school has become an island amidst the chaos."

Luke swallowed the bite of chicken he took and put the food down. He reached across and took the old witch's hand. In a voice that somehow carried to every nook and cranny in the hall, he said calmly, "Evil prevails when goodness does nothing. We will help you, Professor. We will help your people, because it is what we as good citizens of the galaxy must do. Should it take more than I and my five Jedi, we will bring more. But in the end, we will remove the darkness that threatens you. You have my word."

Ben watched as those around the room seemed to sit up just a little straighter. He listened as conversations became just a little louder and more energetic. It was the effect his father could have, when he chose to. There were many times in Ben's life when he doubted his father's leadership or abilities. But it was these little things—this ability to give hope with just a few words—that made Ben realize just what a true hero was.

Even he felt better, knowing his father was coming with him to save Luna.

"Eat now," Luke said to his son. "We leave as soon as the swoops are ready."

Ben nodded. Under his voice, he said, "Hang on, Luna. We're coming."

Narcissa Malfoy sat and stared at the girl.

Luna lay curled into a ball against the far corner with her face turned away from the world. She no longer cried. In fact, Narcissa could not remember exactly when the waif of a girl stopped crying. It was many hours ago.

Eventually, though, even the torturers needed rest and so Narcissa sat in the dungeon-like cellar under Malfoy Manor and stared at the wife of the man who murdered her son.

She felt empty. She was supposed to feel strong and justified. She was supposed to take heart in knowing that she was making the man who killed her son suffer as she did by making his loved one suffer. That the man who killed her husband was suffering the same loss as she did.

But when she stared down at this broken slip of a girl, she just felt empty.

As she sat there, Narcissa was suddenly struck by a terrible image. It was not Luna Lovegood Skywalker in the corner, it was Draco. He was curled up in a fetal position with a body covered in bruises, cuts, and worse. He was weeping for her to save him, but she did not.

Just as quickly the vision left. It was not Draco—just this silly, stupid little girl.

Narcissa wasn't even sure what made her move. One moment she was thinking of her son, the next she was kneeling on the floor staring into the unfocused, silver-gray eyes of the child. "He killed Draco, didn't he?" Narcissa hissed. She grabbed Luna's hair and yanked her head back. "Tell me! He did it, didn't he?"

The eyes came back into focus and misted over, as if somehow Narcissa forced her back into the pain of her body. "He didn't," Luna whispered. The sound was hollow, cracked and weak. If not for the profound silence in the cellars, Narcissa would never have heard.

"You liar!"

"Sirius killed him," Luna whispered again.

Narcissa let Luna's head drop and scrambled away in horror. She shook her head and whispered, "You lying little whore!"

Luna said nothing. Her eyes immediately lost their focus as she retreated back into whatever place she hid in. Her body curled once more in a ball of agony. From her angle on the floor, Narcissa could see the blood on the girl's thighs.

"You're lying," Narcissa said again. In her heart, though, she knew the truth. Her own cousin had done the deed. Sirius Black had taken her son away from her.

The poor, broken thing before her was suffering for another man's sin.

She pushed herself to her feet. "You would have been made to suffer no matter what," she finally said to the air. "You cavorted with the Dark Lord's enemy. Maybe I should just kill you now."

Silence. Luna was no longer listening. No longer even aware of the world. "Maybe I don't have to," Narcissa finally said. She turned and left the cellar.

It was a sight to behold, Hermione thought to herself. The four speeder bikes that Captain Solo pulled out of his spaceship looked sleek and dangerous. The bike Ben rode was a little bulkier and looked like something he tinkered with. These speeder bikes, though, looked deadly.

Beside her, she could almost feel her soon-to-be husband's excitement. If they had not been in the presence of others, she had no doubt he would try to lure her onto one of the devices for a depraved fling. She had fond memories of the motorcycle he eventually recovered, after all.

What really held her attention, though, were the Jedi themselves. Even the younger ones moved with calm assurance and determination as they attached the myriad weapons packages to the flying machines.

Ben stood near his own bike—which he called a swoop rather than a speeder bike—and checked over it. Needing something to do, Hermione walked over to his side. "Is there anything else we can do for you here?"

"Be safe," Ben said without looking up.

"You're going to get her," Hermione said. "I know you will."

Ben paused and stared down at her feet, lost in thought. "I might get her out of there," he said, "but I'm not sure I'll ever get her back. She's been hurt so bad, Hermione. I don't know how anyone can recover from that."

Just then Luke joined them. With a nod to Hermione and a hand on his son's shoulder, Luke said, "She'll recover with love, of course." He said it with simple conviction. "Professor Black," the elder Jedi said, "are you ready?"

"To ride on a machine than can go four times as fast as a broom?" Black said. "You bet!"

Luke looked down once more at his son. The height difference was actually minimal. Though Ben was almost sixteen, he was almost as tall as his father, and seemed poised to surpass the elder Skywalker by at least an inch or more.

"Ben, you'll need this when we go." He handed over a silver cylinder with a black leather handle.

"Was this…" Ben stared.

"Leia was holding it for Amelia if the time came, but she agreed that you need it more right now. The Jacen we both knew and loved so many years ago would want you to have it."

Ben gulped and nodded. "As a friend, and as a lesson," he added.

Luke smiled. "The temptation of revenge will be very strong, son. Just remember that we are not there to punish those who took Luna from you, but to free Luna from them. We have both been down that road before, and we don't dare travel it again. Don't let your anger or thirst for revenge cloud that fact. If there are punishments to be meted out, it shall be later."

"I understand, Dad."

Luke pulled Ben into a tight embrace and then nodded to Hermione and Sirius. "We're ready to go, then. The _Falcon _took scans of the area on our way down. After Ben compared these scans with his brief Force vision of Luna, we've determined that she is being held in a place called Wiltshire on the other side of the island."

Hermione did the numbers in her head. "That's just over four hundred miles."

Luke nodded. "We should make it in an hour or so." He handed her what looked like a small muggle cell phone. "Keep this com with you. If we encounter any problems, one of us will contact you to let you know."

Behind them, the Jedi started to mount their bikes. Corran Horn and his son Valin were on one. Leia rode alone, while Jaina Solo rode with Corran's daughter Jysella. Luke rode with the Fallanassi woman behind him, and Ben carried Sirius Black.

"We're ready," Luke said.

Hermione nodded and, one-by-one, applied disillusionment charms to each of the machines and their occupants. As the castor of the spell, she could still see them, but no one else would be able to.

Once finished, she took a step back and watched as the flying bikes lifted off from the grounds in front of Hogwarts with a soft chorus of hums. The last thing she heard as the bikes soared into the afternoon sky was her soon to soon-to-be husband (she just called him husband for convenience) crying out, "Incredible!"

They flew sometimes just meters off the ground. Sometimes higher. They followed rivers where they could, motorways where they could not. After Ben's warning that the local military aircraft did have infrared and thermal capabilities, they made sure to stay low enough to avoid them.

It seemed odd to Ben that he could sense his family around him; he could see the other speeder bikes on his scope, but he could not see them with his naked eyes. It reminded him of his earliest lesson from his mother not to trust what his eyes told him.

Still they flew, faster and faster. Behind him Black clung to him with a deep-throated, permanent giggle. The wizard was giggling with every breath, ecstatic to finally find a muggle vehicle that could fly faster and harder than his enchanted motorcycle.

They passed the border from Scotland into Britain proper when Ben felt a tickle in the back of his mind. It wasn't Luna's presence so much as a pull on his consciousness. On his heart.

Their bond was asserting itself. "Dad," he said into their com, "I can feel the bond."

Though Ben could not feel it, he sensed his father looking over his shoulder back at him. "Are you sure?"

Ben opened himself to his father's inquiry, and could feel the older Skywalker's relief. "That means she's still alive," he said. "We're not too late."

The others listening pushed the bikes all the harder. The Jedi flew on, soaring over the countryside. They came into a storm over Birmingham that pelted large droplets of cold rain against the deflector screens on the bikes. Though sheltered from the worst of the wind, the rain still soaked all of them thoroughly as they continued south toward Cheltenham.

Ben ignored the cold and wet. The bond continued to grow more powerful as they approached. He reached out through the bond but came up against a hard wall blocking any further attempts. But though he could not reach her, he knew that the other end of his bond was nearby.

He signaled to slow over the smaller village of All Cannings. The five speeder bikes slowed to a halt and continued to hover. Ben allowed them to drift before the wind of the storm as he searched for the bond. "It's close," he said. He continued forward at a fraction of the swoop's power. Suddenly, the bond was behind him. He turned around, and continued forward. He turned again and again, until he at last found it.

Though invisible to the naked eye, much like the Grimmauld house was, Ben knew with certainty that the empty field where he landed housed Malfoy manor.

The other speeder bikes descended around him. They dismounted and gathered behind a low row of shrubberies that ran along the edge of the seemingly empty field.

Luke moved to the fore and stared at the field with narrowed eyes. "I sense a disturbance," he said, "but nothing else. This magic of theirs is remarkable."

"It's similar to what they used to hide the planet," Ben agreed. He looked back at Akanah. "When we pulled the Earth from the White Current, I saw a vision of the last of the Fallanassi settlers on this world. They agreed to let us bring the Earth into normal space, but only with the promise that when we do what we need to do, that we'll hide it back again. And I agree. The Earth isn't ready for the galaxy as a whole."

The Fallanassi adept shared a glance with Luke. "We've done it before," Luke said with a shrug.

"We can do it again," Akanah responded.

She stood then and stared at the field. "This magic uses the White Current. It is the magic of protection and illusion. These wizards have perfected their arts well, but the Fallanassi have had a thousand years since this magic was first used to hone our own arts."

She reached out a hand, and with a subtle twist of her wrist, the air around the field shimmered. When the shimmer faded, where before they saw an empty field of grain now stood a large, stately manor with a richly cultivated landscape around it.

"Wow," Sirius whispered. He looked at Ben. "She just ripped away a Fidelius Charm! Ben? Ben, are you all right?"

Luke and the others turned and watched as Ben grabbed his head and folded into a ball. "His bond," Luke said. He grabbed his son. "Ben, can you hear me?"

Ben moaned. "It hurts so much."

Behind Luke, Jysella sobbed in sympathy.

"You're going to have to be strong," Luke whispered urgently. "We're going to save her. You're going to end her pain and make her whole. But to do that you have to be strong. I need you to shut the bond off for now. I know it's hard, but you're going to have to."

The Jedi master placed his hands to Ben's temples, and the two stayed there, against the grass, for a full minute before Ben gasped in relief. He sat up, eyes moist with tears and wild with anguish. "We can't wait any longer," he said. "We've got to get her out."

"We will," Luke said, "but the house has other protections."

"It's probably warded like nobody's business," Black said.

"What's the fastest way to get through the wards?" Luke asked.

Akanah, however, was also studying the lines of protection. "The magic is keyed to stones in the structure itself," she said. She turned back to Luke. "Destroy the stones, the protections will collapse."

Luke turned to Jaina. "Care to take a shot?"

Jaina grinned, stepped over to her speeder bike, and detached a very long blaster rifle. She stepped back to the shrubs. "Just show me were to shoot."

Akanah pointed her finger. Where she pointed, a dot of white light appeared. Jaina pulled the trigger, and a powerful blaster bolt streaked across the field, impacted the targeted wardstone, and reduced it to dust.

Akanah moved her hand, Jaina fired again, and another ward stone fell. After the third stone, the Fallanassi nodded in satisfaction. "The wards are down." She turned to Luke. "I cannot help you fight them."

Luke smiled gently and placed a hand on her cheek. "I know. Remain here and be safe. Thank you."

The Jedi stood just as Death Eaters began pouring out of the house. Then more Death Eaters, then, just for variety, a few more on top of that. From the stately manor poured almost a hundred witches and wizards.

"Well, I'll give this bad guy of theirs this," Corran said, "he certainly has an active recruiting program."

Luke turned to Sirius. "Stay here and protect Akanah."

"You're going to need me."

Luke nodded his agreement. "You're right. I'm going to need you to stay here and protect Akanah. She is the leader of her people and too valuable to risk." He looked to the others. "Are you ready?"

The six other Jedi, including Ben, nodded. Luke said, "Then may the Force be with us all."

Narcissa stumbled from her bed. She was not sleeping. She had not slept since they captured the girl. Even before that, she had not slept well since the death of her son. Lucius' death at Hogsmeade passed as an almost meaningless event to her, after Draco's death.

Still, she was exhausted and took the opportunity to lay down. That opportunity ended abruptly when she felt the whole house shake under a tremendous explosion. She rushed out of her parlor and stopped face-to-face with Bellatrix Lestrange.

"What is happening here?" Narcissa said.

Her sister grinned with a maniacal gleam in her eye. "We're under attack, Cissa," she said. "The enemies of the Dark Lord fell for our little trap. They're coming for the girl."

Trap? Narcissa did not understand. The house was under a Fidelius Charm and had sufficient wards to hold off an army of intruders. Or one Dark Lord. Still, why build a trap when it was impossible for the victims to find it?

She did not accompany her dear sister's Death Eaters out the front door. Rather, she walked to the parlor's window.

She could see the intruders, now. There appeared to be seven standing. "Only seven?" she whispered. The confusion grew. Why send only seven to attack a Death Eater stronghold? It just didn't make sense.

Below her, she could see Bella assembling her forces. The eldest Black sister took a fascinating joy in violence and strife. She did not shy away from challenges, even as a little girl, but threw herself into them with single-minded determination that bordered on fanaticism. After her years in Azkaban, that border was lost forever as she became a true fanatic to Lord Voldemort.

Now, she assembled her force, one of Voldemort's larger strike forces, to battle an enemy her people outnumbered better than fourteen to one.

For a very brief moment, Narcissa felt a spark of pity of the seven lost souls about to die.

A very brief moment. For her next heartbeat, she saw seven glowing beams of light emerge from their hands. Watching Ben Skywalker fight at Stonehenge had brought a note of fear into her breast. If not for the Dark Lord's presence, she would have feared for her life and the lives of every Death Eater with her.

Now she saw seven glowing swords, some green, some blue, one violet, in the hands of her enemy. And her Dark Lord was in London, solidifying his control over the Ministry.

She remembered Skywalker's words at the Ministry hearing. His family had come. He was no longer alone.

Below, Bellatrix ignored the threat of those swords. With a gleeful scream, she ordered order men to the attack with spells flying.

The leader of the seven attackers held out a single hand, and Narcissa's breath caught in her throat. When Ben had launched his wandless lightning spell at the Dark Lord, even Voldemort himself had been surprised by the power of it. What this alien did, however, was beyond anything she could have imagined. The lightning that poured out of his hand was not blue—it was pure, blinding white. It poured over the front line of the attacking Death Eaters with sufficient force to kill ten men and send their bodies flying back to those behind him.

Around him, the other attackers held up their hands, and bodies flew as well. Then they all exploded into motion. The glowing swords became blurs of light amidst the crowds of Death Eaters. Where they swung, men fell dead or dying to the ground.

Narcissa could hear the screams of pain and fear from the Death Eaters as this paltry force of seven people waded into them like an army.

One of the attackers finally fell. A young man cried out as a bludgeoning curse struck through his defenses. It was Bellatrix that managed the feat, of course. She laughed at the sound of the alien boy's pain, until another alien leaped over her group of five Death Eater guards and swung his light sword down.

Narcissa went very, very cold when she witnessed her sister slide apart down the middle of her body.

"Dobby!" she called.

Her elf arrived immediately. "Missus calls for Dobby?"

"Defend me against the aliens attacking the house. Do not let them enter the cellar!"

"Dobby does as missus asks," the elf said.

Narcissa dismissed the creature to its death and ran down the hall toward the stairs that led to the cellar. She paused to try apparating, but evidently that was the one ward the attackers did not destroy.

She rushed through the door into the foul-smelling cellar and immediately saw the girl right where she had been left. The latest round of abuse had not started in full yet, but still she bled from a series of knife cuts across her back and ribs.

"You are my final defense, child," Narcissa said. She ducked unconsciously when she heard more screams, followed by the sound of something dull hitting the house. The sound was followed a moment later by an explosion.

"The front door," she whispered. She started throwing locking charms at the door to the cellar. When she'd cast as many as she knew, she turned back to Luna. _"Diffindo_," she said, severing the chains that kept Luna manacled to the wall.

The child collapsed boneless to the stone floor.

Above, she heard more screams. Then she clearly heard Dobby say, "Dobby cannot let strangers harm the missus."

Narcissa scanned the room until her eyes fell on the only table. She quickly swept the collection of brands, knives, clubs and other tools from the table and pushed it to the back wall. With a flick of her wand she levitated the girl's nude, bleeding and broken body to the table and left it there.

She finally transfigured a chair for herself, and sat down with a deep, shaky breath. "I will die like a Malfoy," she said at last. "Like a Black."

She heard a loud squeal, followed by a wet pop. That would be Dobby, she realized. There was no sadness there. She never liked the simpering elf, and her husband and son only enjoyed it for the way they could make it torture itself incessantly.

The door shook as the invaders tried to open it. Narcissa was too scared to enjoy their confusion. Even if she were inclined, however, the enjoyment would have been short lived.

Two beams of blue burned through the stone wall on the upper half of the cellar beside the door. They glided up as if cutting through paper, and arched together over the crown of the doorway. A booted foot sent the door—frame and all—tumbling into the cellar.

Ben Skywalker jumped through with a lightsaber in one hand, and a wand in the other. Narcissa tried to hide her surprise—her Lord told her that he had destroyed the boy's light sword and left him dead and broken at Stonehenge.

Behind the boy came an older man who could only have been the father.

Five more arrived behind them, all carrying the strange glowing swords.

"Mrs. Black," Ben Skywalker said coldly. His eyes never left Luna's body. "I've come for my wife."

Narcissa kept her wand hand steady as it pointed at the back of the girl's head. She was proud of that at least. "Did you kill all those people for just this little girl?"

"We disarmed most of them," one of the aliens said with a shrug.

Narcissa could only guess how literally the alien was speaking. "That is the problem, I suppose. You killed my family, Skywalker."

Ben noted the omission. "You know I didn't kill Draco."

"It doesn't matter," she said. "You killed my husband, and I have no doubt that you were there."

"I was there," Ben admitted. "I didn't want him to die."

"Just like you don't want her to die."

Ben reached through the link, but now he could feel nothing. It was as if Luna was gone. The link itself, though, remained. And he could see the gentle rise and fall of her bruised and blackened chest. "I don't want her to die," Ben admitted. He looked to his father, then back to Malfoy. "We didn't come here to punish or destroy. We fought because you attacked. We are here for my wife only."

"And what if I refuse to give her to you?"

It was the father who spoke. "You will release her to us," Luke said.

Narcissa felt the pull of his blue eyes and the lure of his powerful voice. She felt an overwhelming compulsion to do exactly what he said. She even started to, when she realized it was a legillimens attack of some kind. Draco had told her Ben was a legillimens.

"Enough!" she barked. "I am going to walk out of this house, and I'm taking this silly child with me. If you try to stop me, I'll make sure that she dies with me!"

They stood at an impasse until it was Luke who spoke. "I'm sorry for your pain," he said gently. Narcissa stiffened, waiting for a legillimens attack that never came. "I can feel your loss. You know what it is like to lose one you love. So I ask you, do you really wish to inflict such pain on Ben?"

Luke looked to his son, then back to Narcissa. "Give us Luna, and we will not harm you."

"Do you think the Dark Lord would let me live if I were to give up his prize so easily?"

Luke nodded as if she had confirmed something to him. "I will protect you," he finally said.

Ben turned and stared, aghast. "Dad…"

Luke stilled him. "Remember what I said, Ben. We're not here to punish. We're not here to exact revenge. We're here to save your wife. And with that in mind, I promise you, Mrs. Black, that I will protect you with all my power from Voldemort, if you give Luna to us with no further harm."

She watched as Ben kept his face carefully schooled, then studied the other faces. They were neutral, even that of the young man her sister had managed to strike. He stood gingerly, holding his side in obvious pain.

She finally looked back to Ben. "Do you actually think he can stop the Dark Lord?"

"Do you think you can afford for him not to?" he said. He took a wavering step back, and she tried to hide her surprise at seeing tears in his eyes. "You've hurt her so much already. I can't feel her mind any more. Haven't you done enough?"

Bellatrix would have laughed and cursed him. Voldemort would have raped his very soul. But in that one moment, seeing this sixteen-year-old boy weep before her for the one he loved, her mind flashed once again to Draco, and his bitter weeping when he was punished by the Dark Lord for being thrown out of Hogwarts.

This boy was younger than Draco.

Narcissa looked down at the girl, bruised and battered, cut and damaged. Even when sure Ben had been the one to kill her son, she took no pleasure from the girl's pain. She wanted to, and cursed herself for the emptiness inside. But she simply did not enjoy the suffering of her victim.

"My husband and son are dead." She looked at the older man who cut Bellatrix down. "That was my sister you killed. All my family are gone."

"Not all," a voice said from the doorway.

They all turned as Sirius Black stepped into the cellar. Behind him, Akanah stood with a grimace at the violence and death that filled the home.

"I know you, Narcissa," Black said. "You think you need to be dark, but I know you." He motioned to Luna. "This isn't you. This is Malfoy. This is Voldemort. But the Narcissa Black I knew would never have allowed this. Let her go. When this is all over, you'll still have family. A sister who misses you. A niece you've never met, a cousin you tried to forget. But family nonetheless."

"Blood traitors all," she whispered.

Sirius shrugged. "But family. Let her go, Cissa. I was the one who killed Draco. Leave your rage for me. Ben and Luna have suffered enough."

Narcissa lowered her wand. "Take her," she said. She was surprised by the hoarseness of her voice, and reached up a finger in shock when she felt a single tear on her cheek.

Ben rushed forward and scooped Luna up with both arms, before collapsing to the floor with her in his lap. Her eyes were finally closed. She did not respond.

"I will keep my word," Luke told Narcissa. "You will need to come with us. We'll protect you at Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" she asked.

"We've retaken it, with the help of Ben's family," Black said. "And that's where we'll stand."

Narcissa stood slowly and, making sure everyone saw, slipped her wand into her sleeve. She stepped around the table to Sirius, and with a vicious swing slapped him across the right cheek. "That's for my son."

He touched the tender spot, but nodded. "I'm sorry," he said. "It shouldn't have happened. None of this should have happened."

Sirius looked back to Luke. "Get Ben and Luna home. I'll stay and apparate back to Hogwarts with Cissa. We'll probably get there before you."

Luke knew about apparition from his shared Force vision with Ben and nodded his agreement. "Very well."

He then knelt beside his son. "Let's get her back to the castle," he said.

Ben nodded even as he wept, and let his father help him back to his legs. Nearby, Jysella removed her outer robes. Ben cast a warming and drying charm on it, and they wrapped his wife in it as gently as possible. Then, with one last look at Sirius Black and his cousin Narcissa, the Jedi left.


	27. The Boy Who Cried

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Boy Who Cried **

The Death Eaters said nothing as the Dark Lord appeared at Malfoy Manor with barely a sound. His silent apparition was one of the many examples of his great power, and always gave his servants pause. If he could apparate soundlessly, what would keep him from appearing behind them without warning?

This was especially a bad time to be a Death Eater. Of the hundred brethren left to guard Malfoy Manor, more than half were dead, and the remainder were literally disarmed—relieved of their wands by the expedient measure of having their arms or hands cut off.

Those wounded survivors sat in a miserable heap near the house, while the dead were lined up with as many of their pieces as could be collected.

Moments after the Dark Lord arrived, his servant Wormtail appeared with a loud and clumsy apparition pop. He immediately fell into step behind his master.

Lord Voldemort viewed the condition of his men with narrow red eyes. He did not make a sound as he walked through the rows of the dead, until he finally came to the pieces that were once Bellatrix Lestrange. "Bella," the Dark Lord whispered.

The other Death Eaters who arrived from London stayed well away and did not speak. They were aware that Lestrange was the very last of the original Inner Circle aside from Wormtail. The others were killed either by the failed raid on the Weasley family home, or the disaster at Hogsmeade. They knew about Hogwarts, of course. The loss of another fifty men could never have gone unnoticed by a wizard as powerful as Lord Voldemort.

Without further word, Voldemort marched into the manor. Wormtail paused at the door—not even his loyalty was strong enough to follow. The Death Eaters outside dared not even go that far. A moment later, they all heard an angry cry and a loud billowing explosion. The roof of the manor's East Wing evaporated before a billow of white flame. A moment later, the rest of the house followed. Wormtail scampered away with an expression of terror on his flushed, misshapen face.

From the midst of the fire walked Lord Voldemort, untouched by the flame of his destructive spell. He strode past the dead and then turned to look at the survivors of the raid. He raised his hands, and with a Parseltongue incantation, the late afternoon sky above them grew dark. Suddenly ice fell from the conjured cloud, but not in the form of hail stones.

The ice that fell did so as long, deadly spears. The spears rained down like a flood of javelins. The injured Death Eaters had only moments to realize the price for their failure before the spears of ice impaled them. Within mere seconds, the Dark Lord had killed fifty men.

He turned to the cringing, fawning Wormtail. "Gather their bodies and bring them to my home. I shall use them despite their incompetence. Pass the word to everyone—and I mean everyone—that we assemble at Hogsmeade tomorrow morning. We are going to take Hogwarts back, and this time there will be no mercy."

With that, the Dark Lord disapparated away. The concussive release of energy from his disapparation threw Wormtail to the ground and flattened most of the rest of his men, such was his towering rage.

Madame Pomphrey kept her lower lip tucked between her teeth as she waved her wand over Luna.

The strike force returned just after the sun had set, and Ben had rushed inside the castle, past startled students, with Luna in his arms. He did not think of the bacta tank on the _Falcon_. Her physical wounds he could heal with the Force. It was the magical damage that terrified him.

This time, the mediwitch made no comment about the way he kept her cradled in his arms as she examined the girl. The more her spell uncovered, the harder she bit her lip. Mid-way through the examination, others arrived. The older man Pomphrey remembered as Luke Skywalker, with his sister Leia. The other Jedi lingered near the door of the hospital wing.

Hermione Granger arrived moments later in the company of McGonagall.

McGonagall saw the expression on Pomphrey's face and paled. "Poppy?"

The mediwitch, not trusting herself to speak, merely shook her head and continued the diagnostic spell. Finally, she summoned a chair from across the room and collapsed into it. She barely looked up as Luke Skywalker sat on the bed beside his son, and placed an arm around Ben's shoulders.

"We need to know everything," the Jedi Master said. His voice sounded calm, but there was within it a profound sadness. To Hermione's ears, it seemed he understood exactly what was happening.

Hermione moved around until she stood behind Pomphrey. From there she could see just hints of Luna's face, bruised and battered. The rest of her body Ben kept tightly wrapped in the Jedi robe.

"She has been…" Pomphrey stopped and took a long, steadying breath. "Physically, she has been repeatedly raped. I cannot say for sure how many times or by how many men, but I would have to say the number is more than twenty. She has been beaten severely, both with fists, feet and blunt objects. She has been burned, branded and cut on well over seventy percent of her body. She has broken ribs, her left femur is broken, and she has two compound fractures in her right arm. She also shows signs of a concussion, a hairline fracture in her mandible, and she has had several teeth…pulled. They were pulled, and it looks as if she was tortured through her dental nerves. That is the physical damage."

Hermione covered her mouth as her legs caved and she sank into the bed behind the mediwtich. Tears sprang uncontrollable as she sobbed. Across from her, Ben never even looked up from the face of his wife. Luke's face…the Jedi Master looked to Hermione as if he were the one suffering, such was the sadness and anguish of his features. "There is more?"

Ben's aunt drifted to the bed that held her family as well, and silently placed a hand on Ben's shoulder as she too looked down at the girl in his arms.

"There is a curse, the use of which normally means a life sentence in Azkaban, called the _cruciatus_," Pomphrey said. "It is a pain curse, of which prolonged exposure can lead to insanity and even brain death. More than a few minutes is almost always damaging." She had to take another breath.

Hermione shook her head. She didn't want to hear what she knew was going to be said, but the mediwitch continued. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "If I…she was exposed to at least six hours of the curse. It looks almost as if they kept her under the curse while they physically tortured her. They revived her again and again, to keep her from going unconscious. It…it…." She stopped.

The hospital wing was absolutely still, save for the soft sobs that escaped Hermione.

"I can heal her physical wounds," Pomphrey said when she was able to continue. "I can heal the broken bones and the internal damage. I can heal the tearing of her uterus so she could even bear children some day. But I cannot heal the damage to her mind. That is beyond our best arts. I am so very sorry, Ben."

Luke smiled sadly at her. "Thank you. The Force is a very powerful thing, and we are just now, even after tens of thousands of years, scraping the surface of it with our understanding."

Speaking for the first time, Ben asked in a voice thick with grief, "What does the Force show you, Dad? All it shows me is the woman I love dead in my arms."

Luke's bright blue eyes glistened as he leaned over until his lips rested in his son's hair. "The Force shows me a vision the woman you love sent me. What did she tell you, Ben? When you asked why she seemed so determined to be with you, what did she say?"

Ben reached up a trembling hand to Luna's cheek. "She said she was going to be my Space Witch. We were going to be married and have a son named Nataniel Kol and two grandsons." His chest convulsed with a powerful sob, and when he continued his voice cracked as he cried. "She said she would make me happy for a very long time, and when we're old and tired we would come back here and retire and become famous wizards. She said that to me."

Hermione looked up, and through her own tears saw she was not alone. McGonagall's cheeks were wet with her tears, as were the faces of all the Jedi. Poppy, fighting for professional control, stood and walked briskly away with her head down, fighting back her own sadness.

"She showed me that vision as well," Luke said. "And more. She showed me that you were meant for her, and that she was meant for you. When you bonded, even from across the galaxy, I could feel it, Ben. I could feel her wash away the guilt and pain you felt from the war. From your mother's death; and from Jacen. And I could feel you healing the wounds she had suffered. She called you to her, son, because you are the only one in the whole galaxy that could make her whole. That could make her well."

At long last Ben looked up at his father. From Hermione's perspective on the bed, it was like looking at a time warp. Their features were so similar, save for their ages and the color of their hair. Two pairs of blue eyes stared deeply into each other. She could almost feel the love and loss there, and the feelings of comfort and pain.

"Take her someplace where you both found comfort," Luke said gently. "Take her to where you were bonded, and stay there for now. Comfort her. Love her. Let the Force flow through you both."

"Will you stay?" Ben asked.

Luke kissed his son's forehead. "You are my son. She is my daughter, now. I will stay for life, if I must. I promise you this."

"And Voldemort?"

Luke reached out and plucked Ben's wand from his shirt. "Obi-Wan told me a story once, well after he died. To quote him, Dark Lords are my specialty."

Luke looked at Hermione for the first time. "Go with him, please. Make sure his needs are met. I sense a threat in the Force. Your Dark Lord will be attacking soon enough."

Ben stood with his father's support. Hermione watched breathlessly as first Leia, and then all the other Jedi, gently placed comforting hands on Ben's shoulder, and Luna's pale cheeks. Hermione followed as if caught in his wake.

The halls beyond should have been empty. The evening meal was long since over. However, the halls were anything but. Every student from every house lined the halls outside the hospital wing. Somehow, word had spread that Ben and his family had returned with Luna.

As they stepped out, Hermione saw two faces behind the line of students she most definitely did not expect. One was Sirius, but the other was none other than Narcissa Malfoy, the woman most directly responsible for Luna's abduction.

For a brief moment, Hermione's rage burned past her grief as she glared at Draco Malfoy's mother.

Proving he was more sensitive to her moods than even she realized, Sirius caught her eye and quietly shook his head. He then nodded toward Ben. Still very angry, Hermione nodded briefly, glared once more at Narcissa, and then caught up to Ben.

Hermione's fellow Gryffindors looked as if they wanted to speak, but just as Sirius had done to her, Hermione shook her head at anyone who attempted to join them. It wasn't until they reached the end of the hall and the entrance to the dungeons that Hermione saw a familiar face.

As Ben walked on with Luna still clasped tightly in his arms, Hermione stepped to the side of Daphne Greengrass. "What is going on?" the Slytherin whispered as she glanced at Ben start down into the dungeons.

"Voldemort held her for the better part of a day," Hermione said. The anger over Narcissa Malfoy's presence was the only thing that kept her voice steady. "Six hours of the _cruciatus_."

Daphne blanched the color of bone. "Is she…"

"He's taking her back to their rooms," Hermione said. "If his friendship means anything to you, Daphne, you'll make sure NO ONE goes into his room."

Daphne nodded. "You got it." She stepped across the hall behind Hermione and grabbed Finnigan. "You're with me," she said.

"Where we going?" her boyfriend asked.

Hermione dismissed them as she followed Ben into the Slytherin common room. The portraits on the wall watched his passing in silence, though they seemed to glare at Hermione. She ignored them as well, even as Daphne and Seamus Finnigan came in behind her. She instead started up the stairs behind Ben.

His suite of rooms was untouched from when he last slept there. Hermione felt a brush of magic—no, Force—she corrected herself, and watched as the door ahead of him opened. He turned side-ways to take Luna through. She followed, but only then realized this wasn't his room.

It was the bathroom for the suite that Ben had to himself.

He stood with his head cuddled against Luna's blood-matted hair, but his eyes were on the bath.

"I understand," Hermione said. She stepped past him in the spacious room and turned the water on the bath. With a stylized flick of her wand, she said, "_Umquam tepidus._"

She then stepped back and turned to face them. She wanted to say so much to them. She wanted to express her sorrow for their pain; to let them know how much each of them had come to mean to her just in the past few months. She wanted to let them know that she loved them and would do anything for them. She could not find the words—she who was considered by many to be the brightest witch of her age.

Instead, she leaned down and kissed Luna's forehead. The girl's skin felt cold and clammy. She then looked up to Ben, and kissed his forehead as well. "Be well," she did manage to say.

She walked out of the bathroom. She turned when she heard the soft thud of a cloth falling and turned to see that Ben had dropped the robe covering Luna and was gently placing her in the water. She could not see much around him, but she did see Luna's legs, covered in cuts and a large swath of dried blood on the inside of her thigh.

Hermione's stomach clenched into a tight knot. For a brief moment she thought she might actually be sick. Ben turned, and their eyes caught. There were no words they could exchange, but then again, none were needed. She could see, even feel the raw emotion blazing from his blue eyes. The pain there, and the need. She nodded to him and he nodded back before closing the door.

Alone, she took three staggering steps until she left the suite and closed the door behind her. Only then did she slide down to the floor and let the tears come in earnest.

"Granger?" Daphne said. Then, "Hermione?"

Hermione opened her eyes and looked over at the Slytherin. Daphne and Seamus were the only ones in the stairwell. The rest of the Slytherins remained in the common room.

The two girls had never been friends. In fact, they had almost come to blows in their second year. But at that moment, there was no animosity at all. Rather, Hermione saw concern and perhaps friendship, forged through a common bond.

"It's silly of me," Hermione said as she wiped her eyes. "I'm not the one who suffered. I thought I was going to be okay. I really did. Until Ben let her robe fall and I saw her." She sobbed again. "What they did to her…" She couldn't finish. Not for another moment. Finally she took a deep, ragged breath as she looked from Daphne to Seamus and back again. "Don't let anyone but his family in there, Daphne. Because… I don't think Luna's going to come out again. I think…he wants to be with her in the end."

Daphne Greengrass was Slytherin through and through. She had known Ben Skywalker barely two months. Hermione doubted she had spoken maybe two words to Luna Lovegood through the younger girl's entire tenure at the school. Yet, when her words sank in and she understood, Hermione watched as this true Slytherin silently wept.

"I won't let anyone in," Daphne promised. Then, as if remembering the one lesson Luna Lovegood taught the Slytherins, she leaned forward and with hesitant arms wrapped Hermione Granger into a tight hug.

Hermione returned the gesture in kind. "I know you won't," she said.

She stood then, and looked from Daphne to Finnigan, and wiped her eyes. "Ben's father said Voldemort's coming. Keep all the children in the common rooms tonight. First thing tomorrow morning we'll move everyone into the Come and Go Room."

Daphne nodded. "All right."

Hermione took one last breath to steady herself, glanced over her shoulder at Ben's door, and finally walked back down the stairs toward the Slytherin common room. There was a lot to do, and no much time to do it.

Hermione was gone. When he heard the outer door close, he opened the bathroom door again. Only then did Ben turn and look down at Luna in the spacious tub. Her eyes were closed. She floated in the water, with only her face above the surface. Her hair spread across the surface of the water around her face like a halo.

The water was turning red and frothed where the faucet poured more water in. He shrugged out of his clothes and left them piled on the floor by the sink. They were his dark jumpsuit from training—Father had brought clothes for him on the _Falcon_.

He climbed into the tub beside his wife. The water stained his skin red with her blood. He didn't care. He gently lifted her torso into his arms and slid behind her until she rested on the scars of his stomach. With a twist of the Force he turned on the shower and adjusted the nozzle until the water fell only on their bodies. With another nudge the drain opened to allow the bloody water to drain. The tub felt warm to the touch because of Hermione's ever warm spell.

When the water at last ran clear, Ben plugged the drain and turned the shower off to allow the bathwater to collect. He held his wife in his arms, his hands clasped just below her breasts. There were still little wisps of blood in the water from her many cuts, but nothing like before. Her head rested like dead weight against him, but he did not mind.

When the water was high enough, he turned it off and leaned back. He thought about the many things that brought him to this moment. The fear and confusion. The determination to make things better. He realized that much of his willingness to fight was not because of Dumbledore or the Greater Good, but because of this young woman in his arms.

"_Will you watch over my little girl?" the ghost of Xenophilius Lovegood seemed to say. " She's the only thing I have left in the world to love."_

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Lovegood," he whispered. "I wasn't able to take care of her." He leaned down and brushed his lips against her cheeks. "I fell to Earth to fall in love with you. And I did. I fell so hard. But I've lost you." He did not try to keep the tears in check as he cried. "I've lost you, and I don't know how to get you back. And I'm so lost now without you. I don't know what to do."

Ben sat up when he heard an explosion in the other room. Was it was Death Eaters come to finish the job? He found he didn't really care. It was not Death Eaters, though. "Fawkes?" he whispered. He watched with dull eyes as the creature waddled along the floor into the bathroom.

With a flap of wings the phoenix hopped up onto the edge of the tub just as it did the morning he and Luna married. Once in position it stared down at Ben intently. It opened its beak and a stream of emotion made sound poured out. It struck into Ben's chest so hard he could not stop the great, racking sobs. "I love her so much," he told the creature. Somehow, he knew Fawkes could understand.

It looked down at Luna, and ducked its head. Ben watched, still sobbing, as a stream of crystal tears dropped from the bird's eye into the water. The water suddenly became hot, but not unbearably so.

The bird sang another melody of hope before it hopped back to the floor, waddled into the suite common room, and disappeared in a ball of flame.

Ben pulled Luna up, not sure what to expect. Her eyes were still closed, her body still bleeding from her myriad wounds. He still could not feel her mind in the Force.

Hope. The strange bird had not given him a promise. Nor an instant cure. It merely sang of hope.

He pulled her tighter and sank down until the water covered them both. He lay on his side then and supported her head with his arm to keep her face above the water, placed his other arm across her chest, and kissed her cheek. "We'll rest here for a little while," he said to her. "I'll keep you warm."

He closed his eyes and sank himself and his wife deep into a healing trance.


	28. The Dawn That Brought Battle

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Dawn That Brought Battle**

Hermione found Luke Skywalker in the great hall with Filius Flitwick, her fiancé, and Minerva McGonagall. He was dueling with Ben's wand.

Hermione stopped and stared. "How is that possible?"

The duelers ceased and Luke turned to her with a sad smile. "Is Ben set?"

She nodded. "He took her to their bathroom in the Slytherin dorms. I asked some of his housemates to make sure he isn't bothered."

"Thank you."

"Mr…er, I mean, Master Skywalker, how can you be using wand magic? Ben had to go through a month of hard training."

"I'm using that training," Luke said. "It is possible in the Force to communicate a great deal in a short amount of time. I don't know if you're aware of this, but Ben has an eidetic memory. He showed me every lesson you had, every spell you taught him. He thinks very highly of you."

"But…"

"It appears Master Skywalker is well versed in many arts," Filius said in a squeaky voice. "I'm proud to say I haven't even come close to besting him."

"I think old Mad Eye wouldn't have last five minutes," Sirius said.

"Oh." She shook her head. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you about Voldemort. He's sort of immortal."

Luke nodded. "Ben shared with me your story of the horcruxes."

"Well, Sirius and I retrieved one of the last ones from Gringotts," Hermione said. "The problem is destroying it."

"I take it there's something difficult in doing so?"

It was Filius who answered. "I only found out about the Horcruxes myself before Albus died. The Horcrux is the most powerful and dark of all the dark arts. The rending of a human soul takes a tremendous amount of magical power, and to destroy an objected imbued with that soul fragment would release that potential energy in a rather destructive fashion. If we try to destroy a horcrux using just energy alone, the resulting backlash could flatten the school."

Luke considered this for a moment before he pulled his small com switch off his belt. "Han, where are you?"

They all heard a groggy voice. "Sleeping on my ship, where do you think a seventy-one year old man would be at this time a night?"

"I hope you got a good rest, then, because it's time to get up."

They heard more grumbling, then a woman's voice saying, "Stars, Han, it's not like you've ever had to get up early before."

Luke smiled. A few minutes later, a frumpy Han Solo walked into the great hall. His shirt was not completely tucked into his spacer's slacks, though he had his blaster secured well enough. His hair was still unkempt from his brief sleep. "What's up, kid?" he asked.

"We have a dangerous explosive we need to dispose of before the battle," Luke said. "I was looking for options."

"Put it on the ground and shoot it," Han said with a shrug. "That was easy. 'Night."

"It's morning, Han, and it's more complicated than that. The object has power that could damage everything around it."

Hermione watched as the older man threw his head back and yawned. "All right, fine. How big is it?"

"Twinkle," McGonagall called.

Almost instantly, an elf appeared. "Missus called?"

"Please retrieve the object I asked you to hide yesterday."

The elf disappeared, and reappeared a moment later with Helga Hufflepuff's cup.

"That's your dangerous object?" Han said with a chuckle.

"It has a shard of Voldemort's soul in it," Hermione said.

"Yeah, sure," Han said. He was already thinking. "Okay, here's what we do. We take out the proximity fuse from one of the variable-yield proton torpedos on the _Falcon_ and put that thing in it instead, shoot it up with a twenty second delay, and set it off. Since we're in the atmosphere we'll set it for a minimum yield. Half a kiloton. Think that should be enough?"

"What's a kiloton?" Sirius asked.

"The muggles dropped a 15 kiloton bomb on a city in Japan and it blew the entire city up, killing in the end 200,000 people," Hermione said.

Han shrugged. "Doubt we'll need more than half a kiloton to destroy a cup, eh?"

"I think half a kiloton should be sufficient," Luke agreed.

"Too bad we don't know where the bad guy lives, we could just drop it on him," Han said. "Doubt even an immortal would survive that."

"He has before," Black said. "First time he died his body was blasted apart so bad they couldn't find anything bigger than a stamp. He survived in spirit form and returned thirteen years later in a new body."

"Think about the Emperor and his clones, Han," Luke said. "It's a similar principal."

"Still," Sirius said, "we do actually have an idea where he used to live. Little Hagleton."

"Come on, then, friend," Han said. "Let's go look at maps."

Black grabbed the cup from McGonagall and followed after the captain and former general. "So what's a proton torpedo?"

"They have sent a signal, Lord!" Wormtail said. He pointed through the trees of the Forbidden Forest toward Hogwarts.

Lord Voldemort stepped forward and watched as the trail of light streaked into the sky and arced away to fly into the distance to the south. It was like no spell he had seen. However, it moved away from his forces and so was of little concern. The sky to the east was turning pink.

"It is nearly time," the Dark Lord said. "Wake the others and prepare to march. Today marks the end for Dumbledore's dreams."

"Yes, Lord," Wormtail said as he backed away.

The torpedo streaked away at four times the speed of sound. The moment it ripped out of the muggle-repelling and notice-me-not wards of Hogwarts, every early alert system across the United Kingdom and much for the world tracked what even to their systems appeared to be an inter-continental ballistic missile. However, the missile did not achieve an extra-atmospheric altitude and started descending toward a spot within England's borders.

The residents of Little Hagleton had little warning, but fortunately they were not the targets. In fact, no one from the little village had any desire to be anywhere near the Riddle Estate nor the graveyard nearby. Some of the residents who went too close disappeared, and often times at night they could see strange lights and hear distance screams.

So the estate of Tom Riddle Sr. and all the surrounding land was completely empty of innocents, as were several square miles around it, when a variable-yield MG1-A proton torpedo with a modified Horcrux-enhanced warhead slammed directly into the center of the unplottable house. The non-nuclear yield was reduced to just half a kiloton, but that was more than sufficient to vaporize the house, the cemetery, the surrounding square kilometer, and the horcrux within. Not to mention the twenty or so Death Eaters using the house as a base of operations.

Voldemort watched the torpedo disappear into the distance and chuckled to himself. The fools at Hogwarts had no idea what was coming. "Nagini," he said to his beloved companion, "stay with Wormtail. This fight will not take long."

"Everyone go to the Come and Go Room!" Hermione announced through the paintings of the castle. It was a privilege granted only to faculty and the head boy or girl. "The castle is under attack. All students are to evacuate to the Come and Go Room."

She stood just outside the Great Hall, and in moments she could see students pouring out of their common rooms. The Slytherins appeared, and from their midst came Greengrass and Finnigan.

"What about Ben?"

"His father told us not to bother him," Hermione said.

"Let us help," Daphne then said.

Beside her, Seamus nodded. "We're seventh years," he said. "We know how to fight. And I was in your dueling club."

The Hermione of old would have called Professor McGonagall for a decision. The Hermione of now merely nodded. "We can use all the help we can get. Talk to the other seventh years to see if anyone else wants to help. Seventh years only!"

Daphne and Seamus shared a determined nod and then split up to spread the word.

Once Hermione finished shepherding all the rest the students into the Come and Go Room on the 3rd floor, she turned and ran up to the roof by the astronomy tower where she knew Sirius was acting as a look-out. The first warnings of the imminent attack came from him.

She emerged onto the roof in time to see Sirius Black and Han Solo standing by several aurors and a large, wicked looking piece of machinery. She was just in time to hear Solo say, "Huh. Giants. Who knew?"

She rushed to Sirius's side and stared down in horror at the forces arrayed against them.

There were giants, dozens of them. She saw dragons on the ground and in the air, flying in circles around the army. There were hundreds of wizards and witches, all in black robes. There were werewolves held in their animal form by modified wolfsbane potions. She caught the familiar site of mountain trolls as well, lumbering stupidly alongside the equally large and distantly related giants.

Most terrifying, though, was the army of inferi that walked at the forefront of the dark army. Thousands of living corpses shambled along the ground toward Hogwarts, their limbs hanging limply and their heads tilted at impossible angles.

On the other side of Black, Han Solo grunted. "That is one ugly bunch of critters," he said. "Guess I should start blowing 'em up now."

He left the others and stood behind the large muggle device. It looked faintly like a cannon on a free-swiveling mount. However, it ended in a much narrower point than any cannon Hermione had ever seen. "What is that?" she asked.

"Portable infantry turbolaser," Han said. "Forgot I had it in the _Falcon_. Leia reminded me."

"Where is Leia?"

The whole castle shook as the _Millennium Falcon_ soared over their heads. "There she is," Han said. "Jaina's the better flier, but Luke wanted her defending the castle's back entrance. This way Leia and Allana can be all safe in the Falcon while we fight. Watch this."

The dragons circling over Voldemort's army spotted the freighter and immediately viewed it as a threat. They broke their circling formation and charged through the air toward the _Falcon_. A single streak of green light streaked out of the front of the ship and hit the largest, centermost dragon.

The resulting _whump_ of the explosion sent the other nine dragons plummeting away, flattened the trees below, and actually knocked three of the giants down. The _Falcon_ flew through the vaporized remnants of the first dragon and turned in a tight loop to come around for another pass.

"I love my turbolaser," Han said with a chuckle. "Special gift to myself last year."

"Was than a kiloton?" Black asked.

"That? Nah, that was on minimal yield. Maybe two tons only. Nah, a kiloton yield would probably destroy the whole army, and most of the castle too."

One of the dragons fell to the earth with an angry scream and could not get up again. The remaining eight recovered and gave chase to the space ship.

Black nodded in appreciation. He lifted the Order of the Phoenix galleon. "The dragons are out of the picture."

Han held up his own com. "Corran, you and your kids ready?"

"You bet, Han. The green ones are ours. You can have the giants."

"Sounds fun," Han agreed. He swung his huge cannon around. Curious, Hermione stepped behind him and gasped when she saw a screen just inches from his face with a large X in the middle. He sited the X on the chest of one of the approaching giants and then pulled a lever with his right hand.

The cannon screamed and a large burst of green light flashed from the barrel, zipped across the grounds, and ripped through the chest of the giant. The giant looked down in surprise to find a gaping, blackened hole in his chest large enough for a man to crawl through. It made a grunting noise before falling over dead.

At the same time, less powerful red lights flashed from other points along the top of the castle and ripped into the trolls. Though the red lights did not create man-sized holes, they easily burned through the tough hide of the trolls and put them on the ground in a single shot.

By this time, the dark wizards were responding and a flurry of spellfire rushed toward the castle walls. "Get down!" Black roared.

Han ignored them and sighted the next giant. He squeezed off a shot and grinned as the monstrously large humanoid fell. "Those things are so big even an old man can hit them," he muttered. He quickly fired off a volley of shots and got every giant down when he discovered first hand that the twinkly balls of light really were dangerous.

Voldemort, raging as the strange muggle weapons destroyed his pets, followed the path of the green lights to a machine atop the castle. He pointed his wand and loaded a blasting curse with all his power.

The red streak of magic flashed back across the grounds and slammed into the turbolaser with the power of a laser cannon.

The explosion threw Han across the roof. Sirius managed a hasty shield just in time to absorb much of the explosion, but it was still sufficient to send he and Hermione both spinning away. Hermione looked up in time to see one auror screaming and holding a shattered arm, while the second did not get up at all.

She crawled across to Solo. His chest was badly burned, but he appeared to be breathing. She applied several healing and burn charms and breathed a sigh of relief when he opened his eyes. "Okay, that hurt," he muttered. His com was beeping furiously.

He grabbed it and sat up with Hermione's help. "Solo here."

"Han, are you all right?"

"Fine, Leia. Fine. Hermy-girl-what's-her-face cured me right up. But the big gun's done for."

"Ours too," Corran reported. "Saw what happened to you and got out just in time. But we took out all the trolls and all the giants."

They heard a distant roar and looked up in the sky to see another dragon explode under the laser fire from the _Falcon_. "I only have five more to go," Leia reported.

"Think you can swing over and do something about those Anzati-like zombies?"

"Like firespray, maybe?"

Hermione felt a little nervous at the captain's devilish grin. "That should work."

Almost before they finished speaking, the _Falcon_ sped directly over the field of battle with five large dragons on her thrustors. A single canister dropped from the bottom of the ship. Hermione was kneeling by Solo and so the battlements kept her from seeing the ground. However, she could not miss the massive billow of fire that erupted all along the front of Hogwarts.

She jumped to her feet and ran to the edge just in time to see the vast majority of inferi burning. They did not make a sound, other than the crisping of their rotting skins and bones. "Was that napalm?"

"Don't know," Han said as he joined her. "Don't know what napalm is. Firespray is used to clear vegetation for landing sites. It'll burn any organic matter and keep burning until that matter is gone. Never leave home without at least one canister of the stuff."

He turned to the dead auror and the wounded one. "We need to get this man to your hospital."

Despite the initial successes, there were wounded. With spellfire running rampant, some were bound to be hit. There were perhaps half a dozen in the hospital wing when Hermione, Solo, Sirius and the wounded auror arrived.

Pomphrey nodded, pointed to a bed, and handed Hermione a potion. "Make him drink this."

The castle shook. Pomphrey looked up from the man she was working on. "They're in the castle."

Han pulled his blaster. "Okay, sounds like it's about time for the fun to start." A squad of aurors rushed in accompanied by Daphne Greengrass, Seamus Finnagan, Neville Longbottom and several other seventh years.

The students rushed into the hospital proper and took up positions around the inside of the door with their wands held at the ready. "Close and ward the door," Tonks told them all. "We'll hold them off outside, but you are going to act as the last line of defense for the wounded."

"Wait for me," Black said to his cousin. He turned back to Hermione and Solo. "You two don't mind playing last line of defense with the kids, do you?"

"I've done my bit," Solo said. "I'll let you kids go play soldier."

Hermione merely nodded her agreement and watched as the man she loved ran off to fight.

Luna sat on the edge of Phyllis the pond. The sky overhead flashed and darkened as the sun swept by with the turning of the days of her life. Clouds streaked past. Sometimes a wall of rain would sweep by, but then be gone a second later. Time was meaningless in this place.

She remembered this place. It was where she ran to after her Mum died. She hid here for a long time. It comforted her. She remembered with a little bitterness the feeling she had when the mind-healers pulled her out. As a child she did not understand that the procedure was damaging—only now, as an adult, did she appreciate how the wresting of her consciousness out of its retreat had damaged her. She was broken.

"Luna!"

Ben stumbled around the pond, blinded by the passing of time. It was possible he saw something else entirely. Whatever it was he saw, his eyes searched for her desperately. He looked so very lost and alone. He looked so deeply, profoundly sad.

She wanted to call out to him, to let him know she was here, but she could not. She tried to stand, to go to him, but she could not. The shadow of memory held her firm. The memory of pain unbearable—of agony beyond mere death—held her paralyzed and mute. She could no more move or call out to him than she could have flown without magic.

Tears gathered in her eyes. The shadow of memory gripped her hard enough to steal her breath, but not even it could steal her tears. This beautiful young boy looking so desperately for her had fixed her. He had healed the damage done when the mindhealers ripped her psyche apart and forced her back to a semblance of consciousness. But he could not erase the power of the darkness holding her now.

Finally, Ben stumbled into the water. He must not have seen in, since he did not sink immediately. He simply stumbled into the center of Phyllis the pond and collapsed into a sitting position, his legs crossed and his head down. He looked so very dejected.

Then, surprisingly, he began to talk. "I was in the Sith sphere when I felt her," he said to the air. "I flew to Kavan as fast as the sphere would take me. I kept telling myself that she was just in a deep healing trance, but I knew better. There was a hole in the Force where she should have been. A hole inside me."

Luna sat up ever so slightly. As Ben spoke, he sank slightly into the water.

"I didn't recognize anything around me when I landed on Kavan. But it didn't matter. I ran to her. I pulled the Force to me and I ran faster than I've ever run before. When Jedi Masters die, they pass into the Force completely. Most don't even leave a body. When I first saw her, she was still _there_. She'd remained so that…she'd chosen not to go completely into the Force so that we could learn what had happened."

The water was up past his thighs now.

"She was so beautiful, Luna. Even in death, she looked beautiful. A few cuts and scrapes, but so beautiful. I screamed into the Force for her to just be asleep, to let her wake up and hug me. But there was this other side of me. I was a lieutenant in the Galactic Alliance Guard. I was the GAG Commander's apprentice. And so the fourteen-year-old boy who had just lost his mother shut down and let the lieutenant take over. I took holoimages and observations, and I investigated.

"Then HE was there. He just stumbled in with this blank expression, as if he were shocked. He played his part perfect. The shocked nephew. The grieving cousin. The supportive master. He promised me we would get the one who killed her. I loved him so much, and he…killed…my …mother!"

He stopped. The water was midway up his chest. He looked up at last, his eyes glistening. "When I lost your presence in the Force and our bond, Luna, all I could think of was her. Of seeing Mara Jade Skywalker lying dead in a storm drain. Of how it felt to be so alone again. And when I finally found you, it was even worse than if you had died. You were there. I could hold you and feel you with my hands, I could see you with my eyes, but I couldn't feel you with my mind." The water was up to his neck now.

Luna leaned forward, straining against the power of the shadow of memory. It growled and threatened her with the memory of pain. Of the memory of the men laughing as they hurt and shamed her so badly. It burned her. Still, she kept her eyes on Ben's face as he sank into the water, and strained. Her magic did nothing for her, yet still she fought against the shadow of memory.

Ben spoke, though his voice was soft now as the water bubbled around his chin. "Body and soul. Mind and magic. You promised yourself to me, Luna. I love you so much, you promised me! I can't do it again. I can't open my eyes and see you there, but gone. I can't have another hole like that in my soul. I won't. Please don't leave me."

Luna fought now. His words died as the water covered his mouth. Only his eyes remained free, weeping and staring into the emptiness around her with despair. She struggled to call his name, to reach out for him. The shadow of memory roared now and lashed her. She felt the cuts anew. She felt the heated brand burning into her thighs. She felt the ripping inside as the men laughed at her with their bestial expressions.

"No!" The sound came out as a guttural moan. Low and weak and determined. The shadow fought harder, striking her with shards of the _cruciatus_ curse, and the way the fat man with the silver hand had laughed in delight as she screamed under the power of his unforgivable curses.

"No!" she said, stronger this time. "Ben! Don't leave me!"

With her words came strength. She reached down into her magic, and with that power lacing her limbs she ripped free at last from the shadow's vile grip. She rushed across the grass just as Ben's eyes sank into the pond. She dove head-first into the water, though she had never in her life swam.

She sank under the surface, her hands reaching out to him. It was not water they floated in, though. It was a field of stars stretching on forever. Below them was a spectacular wheel of stars, arms reaching out in gentle curves from a brilliant core. It was the galaxy.

The two of them floated in a brilliant field of stars. He reached for her, and their arms came together in a tight grip as their hair floated about as if in water. He stared at her with such profound, heart-wrenching relief it made her eyes water.

"I found you," Ben whispered into her ear.

Luna's eyes snapped open.

The imprint of the galaxy floated as a ghost image on her retinas before her, overlaying the white and green tiles of a Slytherin bathroom. She felt a beautiful, healing warmth enveloping the whole of her body. Inside of her as well, she realized as she ran a hand down her stomach to her abdomen. All the cuts were gone. The tears she could feel inside. She reached down further, but could not feel the raised welts from the brand. Nor could she feel the pain inside, where the men….

She was floating perfectly naked in a tub full of warm water. Only then did she feel the arm under her head. She turned, and met a pair of sky-blue eyes just inches from hers. They were kind and sweet and filled with quiet tears. He was not sobbing or crying. She could feel through their bond a joy so powerful, so sublime and elemental that it left him weeping in silence.

"I found you," he managed to say.

She reached over and placed a hand on his cheek. It had stubble, she realized. He did not have a thick beard. "You need to shave," she said.

He chuckled, then laughed. The laughter turned into sobs as he pulled her to him. Their bodies met in the beautiful, soothing warmth of the water. She reached over and hugged him as well, glorying in the feel of him as his body shook under his sobs.

"I'm here now," she whispered. "Magic and mind. Body and soul. I pledged myself to you, Ben. I will love you forever."

She held him for perhaps ten minutes, when suddenly her stomach growled. "My goodness," she said. "I suppose I am quite hungry."

Ben pushed away, his face red from tears and joy. He stared at her incredulously, and this time laughed a pure, clean laugh. "By the Force I love you."

"And I love you too," she said. "Can you get up now?"

He tried, but splashed back in the water. "I can't," he admitted with another laugh. "My arm is asleep."

Luna stood then and let the water drip off. He stared up at her in open admiration. "It's like you were never…you look so beautiful."

She beamed down at him. "Only for you," she said softly. "I wish Fawkes would bottle some of those tears. I'm sure we were in there for a while, and yet I don't have a single wrinkle!"

She bent down and helped Ben sit up. As he did so, he reached up and ran a hand over her smooth, porcelain skin. "You are so beautiful. So perfect."

As if his touch were an irresistible pull, she came back down into the water, straddling him. "Only for you," she whispered. She leaned forward until their foreheads touched, and stared into his eyes.

"Mind and magic," she whispered.

"Body and soul," he said.

The moment did not last as long as either wanted. Both looked up when they heard a loud boom and the whole castle around them shook. A second later, the windows in the lounge exploded inward. "What is happening?" Luna asked.

"Voldemort is here," Ben said. "The battle has begun."

"What are we going to do?"

"We're going to make it all better."


	29. The Dark Lord and the Jedi

**Chapter Thirty: The Dark Lord and the Jedi**

Kingsley Shacklebolt assumed the role of leader for the assembled aurors who waited just inside the main entrance of the castle.

He had a larger force than either he or Tonks anticipated. Word had spread that Voldemort had lost Malfoy Manor and a hundred of his men, and those aurors and other former Ministry employees that were undecided realized that there would never be a better time. What started out as a force of sixty increased to twice that number.

Added to that were at least fifty members of light families that chose to fight, such as the Weasleys. Twenty students joined as well, though most of those Shacklebolt chose to use as final lines of defense in the Hospital Wing and the Come and Go Room.

Added to that were six aliens with glowing swords. Ben was nowhere to be found.

Arrayed against them was an army of almost five hundred dark wizards, another twenty or so werewolves and a small horde of juvenile acromantulas. All were led, of course, by the most powerful wizard in five generations.

The door started to glow as the final wards tried to hold off blasting charms. "Here they come!" Shacklebolt roared. "Remember, this isn't a police action. If all you do is stun them, they'll be right back up to spell you in the back. Take them down. Anything but the _cruciatus_ and _imperius _curseis authorized!"

There were nervous looks among the aurors clumped around any available nook and cranny that could give them cover. Suddenly, the door exploded inward under a barrage of blasting curses. The air seemed to grow colder as the first enemies poured in.

Or shambled.

"Inferii!" Shacklbolt cried. "_Confrigo_!"

The fifty aurors stationed around the entrance responded in kind, and the shambling horrors were met by a wall of spell fire. Fortunately, there were not many left after the _Falcon's _run. But although a few hundred were better than a few thousand, in the narrow halls of Hogwarts the press of undead bodies was still sufficient to push the defenders back.

They continued back until they passed a black metallic tripod sitting in the middle of the entry hall with a meter long, black tube on it. Behind the device stood Jedi Knight Valin Horn. "Everyone get ready," the young knight said.

The aurors quickly ducked and turned to run to the rear of the device. Valin saw the remaining inferi and with a quick breath and a Jedi meditation pushed down the fear the creatures instinctively raised within him. He flipped the switch, and the e-web portable defense station went online. It began firing immediately, pulling from the extra charge pack hooked to its base.

Inferi fell, shattered and burning. Still, they kept coming, crawling over the bodies of the other fallen. Some still wore relatively good clothes, proof of their recent conversion. It was a magic so dark and dreadful that in the Force it felt as if it were the very antithesis of life.

The wizards resumed their stances, and joined the fire and blasting spells to the power of the blaster rifle, and in moments the last of the inferi died. On their heels came the werewolves, still in their lupine forms with the help of dark enchantments and altered wolfsbane potions. In this case, the e-web was more effective than the wizards. It tracked the movement with mechanical precision. Some werewolves were able to avoid the blasts, but most were not.

The wizards did their best, and several were able to take the werewolves down, but Valin quickly realized the creature's speed made them hard targets. He lit his saber. "Jysella, I'll need some back up."

His sister heard his spoken voice and ran into the central entry way from one of the side halls. She almost ran into a werewolve which turned, reared up on its hind legs, and bunched its considerable muscles to strike.

With a flash of her lightsaber the beast fell bisected to the floor.

"Hold you're fire!" Valin called as he jumped into the fray. He allowed the e-web to continue firing since he could deflect its bolts into enemy agents. His sister joined him. Although neither Jedi had the telekinetic abilities most did, both were effective and powerful duelists, just like their father.

In minutes, the werewolves were dead.

They quickly backed up behind the e-web and looked around. Five aurors had fallen to the dark creatures, and of those at least three were dead.

A red blast of light flashed from the entrance and struck the now silent e-web. Just like with the portable laser cannons, the spell destroyed the e-web as effectively as a blaster bolt. "Okay, that's it," Shacklebolt said when he saw the muggle weapon blow up.

Death Eaters began pouring in. As if to demonstrate his seriousness about using any spell, Shacklebolt stood up, sighted his wand, and called, "_Avada Kedavra_!"

The sickly green spell struck one of the first death eaters through and the man dropped to the floor, instantly dead. The other aurors reverted to slicing, blasting or burning curses. Only a few of the more senior ones had the stomach to risk the killing curses.

The Death Eaters used similar spells, though there were far more instances of the killing curse.

The unit of Death Eaters soared over the water, almost fifty of them, on brooms. They skimmed just over the surface so close their passage caused ripples. The lake-entrance was familiar to most, since almost all of them remembered traveling on boats to go through the first year's entrance.

With the main army coming in front, they doubted the back entrance would be heavily defended.

Amidst the silent _woosh_ of their brooms, they heard an unfamiliar hum. Several of them sat up on their brooms and looked around in confusion, until one man toward the back of the formation looked over his shoulder.

He saw a strikingly beautiful woman with long brown hair, in her early thirties but as fit as a teen, on a strangely sleek muggle device that skimmed the water just as freely as their brooms. She wore form-fitting dark clothes that were definitely not wizard robes.

She gave the rear Death Eater an alluring smile, which he returned (despite wearing a mask). She then waved goodbye at him as she activated the automated tracking system synced into her speeder bike's laser cannon.

The man in the rear managed a short scream before he and his broom disappeared in a ball of laser-induced flame. Jaina Solo managed to shoot another five down before the other fliers realized their danger and split up.

With forty-four men on brooms and only one enemy, the wizards thought it should have been easy. However, they never fought a Jedi on a speeder bike before. Jaina kicked the accelerator and shot the bike forward at twice the best speed a broom could handle. She then spun about, sighted the largest clumping of brooms, and started firing again. The wizards tried firing back, but she was moving too fast for them to track effective.

When she got too close for laser fire, her violet lightsaber made short work of the wizards as well.

After another ten men fell, the survivors realized they were badly out matched and gave up fighting. Now they fled toward the castle, spread far out, and hoped their numbers would allow at least some of them to survive.

Jaina slowed down and simply picked them off one at a time.

By the time the fliers reached Hogwarts, only fifteen survived. They jumped off their brooms and ran for the First Years entrance only to be met by a tripod and a strange tube. It blinked. The dark wizards heard a strange beeping, and then died as the e-web activated.

Ben and Luna rode the brooms out through the first year's entrance over the bodies of the fallen death eaters. Ben sensed the e-web, but they were already moving at sufficient speed to get out of range before the e-web was able to fire.

Almost immediately he felt a wonderfully familiar Force presence on the other side of him from Luna. "Hey, Jaya!" he said.

Jaina Solo leaned over the console of her bike and stared from Ben to Luna. "Ben, is that…"

"Jaya, this is my wife, Luna. Luna, this is my cousin Jaina Solo."

"Pleased to meet you, I'm sure," Luna said brightly. "You're very pretty."

Jaina stared speechless. Finally, she sputtered a little and said, "Ben, how…?"

"Our bath," Luna said happily. "Never underestimate the recuperative power of a good bath with one you love. It will just wash all your cares away. And with a few phoenix tears, you won't even wrinkle!"

"What…?" Jaina obviously had no idea how to communicate with English witches.

"I'll tell you later," Ben promised. "Please let father know. We're together, and we're whole."

Jaina looked as if she would question further, but finally just nodded. "She's very beautiful, Ben. And I can see she makes you happy. Welcome to the family, Luna."

"Thank you!" Luna cheered. "I can't wait for our children to play together, though sadly it won't be as often as either of us would like."

Jaina blinked. "What does that mean?"

"I guess we'll just have to find out," Ben said. "We're going through the forest. I think Dad's probably going to need you at the castle."

Jaina checked her bike's com and nodded. "Yeah, he does. Are you two going to be all right?"

"Yes," Ben said. "We're together now. Everything is going to be fine."

With a curt nod and the ghost of a smile, Jaina pulled the bike into a steep climb and returned to Hogwarts.

"She has suffered a great deal," Luna said over the wind of their passage. She looked at Ben. "Who is Jagged Fel?"

Ben laughed as the two of them flew toward the Forbidden Forest.

"Remus!" Tonks screamed. She saw the older werewolf fall before a vicious bone-breaking curse. He cried out in pain and clutched his shattered arm.

She jumped from her position, and ignoring the volley of spells that flew through the air, ran toward him. He was in a forward position behind a suit of armor as they were falling back. She realized with a sickening feeling that she would not be able to reach him.

Nearby, a Death Eater knelt down with a twisted smile on his exposed face. Many did not even bother with masks now. She was too far away. "Remus!" she cried again.

Suddenly the wizard began screaming and patting himself as if he were on fire, or being attacked by insects. He desperately started throwing spells about, and even struck two of his fellow Death Eaters, before a figure literally flew over Tonks' head and swiped the Death Eater's head off with a single swipe of a glowing blue sword.

Tonks did not hesitate and continued running until she slid to Remus's side. The Jedi backed up to her as well; using his sword much like a wizard would a shield charm. He moved so fast that his sword blurred.

"How is he?" Jedi Master Corran Horn asked.

"That was a bone-breaking curse," Tonks said.

Corran nodded. "All right, get him to the hospital wing."

Tonks used the levitation charm and quickly pulled him away from the front line. Just then Valin joined his father. "Jaina just got back. Jysella is with her."

"Good. Have we seen the big bad guy yet?"

Across the hall, four aurors and a civilian were crouched for protection while tossing spells at the invaders. The whole wall suddenly shattered as if struck by a thermal detonator. The five fighters were tossed like toys into the column behind them, most shattered beyond recognition.

"I'd guess that's him," Valin said.

Corran Horn watched with interest as Lord Voldemort stepped into view in the center of the hall. He wore long, flowing black robes. His most interesting feature, though, was his serpentine nose. "Didn't think they had non-humans here," Valin said.

"Can't you feel him?" Corran asked. "He was human once. Just not any more."

The other defenders began lobbing gray and dark curses at Voldemort, who deflected them with a sneer. Above him, the air darkened as if under a cloud, and sudden spears of ice shot out like bullets.

Most dodged to safety, some didn't.

Corran stepped into the hall. "Hey, ugly, got an invitation for you."

"You dare!" Voldemort hissed.

"Dare what? You're ugly, and I have an invitation for you," Corran said. "Your death is waiting for you in the Great Hall."

"I am immortal! And you are a mere insect!"

Corran was expecting many things—but pain without apparent cause was not it. The silent _cruciatus_ curse burned through the elder Jedi's body. But where Ben as a teen-age Jedi was finally able to shunt the pain aside, Corran merely shrugged. The pain remained, he simply removed himself from the feeling of it. "That was pretty interesting," he said. "But playing with me doesn't change the invitation. Maybe I'll see you there."

With that, he leapt away just as a powerful curse destroyed the floor.

"Luke's going to have fun with that bugger," Corran yelled. Around them, the rest of the aurors retreated further down the hall. Facing such a numerically superior force, they had no choice but to employ a fall-back approach. They took short stands and killed as many as they could, then ran back to another position.

They were taking losses, though.

"Do you feel it?" Ben asked softly as they drifted through the trees of the forest.

The forest itself was empty—there were no sounds of any animals. No birds, no insects. The passage of Voldemort's army, especially the acromantulas, left the forest cleared of animal life.

Luna nodded in the gloom. "The last Horcrux."

"I was guessing he would keep the last one with him," Ben said. "Hoping, really. But there's no way he would take it into battle."

Through the trees, they caught glimpses of the battleground outside the school. They occasionally heard explosions from the school itself, and could see spells flying atop the battlements. But the field itself held only bodies of giants, trolls, inferii, and a few of dragons.

"It's close," Luna whispered. The two of them set their brooms down, and then came together.

Ben wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled them both into the Force. Hidden from normal vision, they began creeping through the trees until they came upon the Dark Lord's staging area. They paused at the edge of the clearing and searched until they spotted three people. The three stood on the far side of the clearing facing the castle. There was a short, round man with two lean Death Eater guards.

Wrapped around the man was a monstrously huge snake of some kind.

The snake exuded darkness.

"A living horcrux," Luna whispered. "How…strange."

Ben nodded. The snake slid around the man's neck until its head was facing directly at them. It opened its fanged jaws and hissed loudly. The squat wizard turned in alarm. He had one hand made of silver, and the other held a wand. "Who's there!" he called.

Ben looked at his wife, who nodded her understanding. She stepped behind a tree as he rushed forward.

From the perspective of Peter Pettigrew, it seemed as if an azure blade of light appeared out of nowhere, followed a moment later by the boy his master killed at Stonehenge.

Wormtail's two guards leaped into action—both were seasoned Death Eaters and powerful wizards in their own right. The boy, however, moved so fast for a moment Wormtail simply lost sight of him.

A moment later one of his guards fell headless to the ground. The second man spun and cast broad-area spells, but again the attacker was too fast, and once more a body fell apart from its head.

Suddenly Wormtail stood alone with only Nagini to keep him company.

The Death Eater gasped when a ghost stepped from behind a tree and walked toward him with her wand in hand. "You…" he whispered. "You should be dead! Both of you should be dead!"

Ben understood then. He looked back at his wife. "He was there?"

Luna nodded. "He did not rape me. But he used the _cruciatus_ on me."

Wormtail finally understood. He fell to his knees. "Please have mercy!" he said. "The Dark Lord made me do it. I could not disobey." As he begged, Nagini slithered off him and started toward the trees as fast as he could.

Ben reached for it in the Force, but either because of a charm or the sheer darkness of its being, it slid out of his Force grasp. Already it was approaching the tree line. With a glance back at Luna, Ben bound forward with his lightsaber ready.

Suddenly facing only a sixteen-year-old girl, Wormtail raised his wand to strike.

"_Avada Kedavra_," Luna said in a wistful, sad voice. The way she spoke the spell, it should have had no power behind it at all. And yet the ball of green light that emerged was supercharged nearly as powerful as Voldemort's.

Wormtail tried to jump away, but he was too fat to completely avoid it. The dark green struck his shoulder with sufficient force to send him spinning into the air. He was dead well before he hit.

Near the tree line, Nagini spun to defend itself and struck with poisonous fangs and reptilian speed. Ben responded with Jedi instincts and a lifetime of training. Eight pieces of Nagini fell to the grass of the clearing. The death of the creature released the power of the horcrux, and the resulting magical backlash sent Ben flying back into Luna's waiting arms.

Both of them tumbled to the grass. "I've got you," Luna said.

"I thought that was my line," Ben said.

The two laughed until Ben saw Wormtail's body. "You killed him?"

"It's very odd," Luna said. "I used the killing curse, and I truly did wish him dead, but I was not angry at him. He needed to die so that he could never do to anyone else what he did to me. But I was not angry. I was even sad for him. How very odd."

Ben turned around to face her, leaned forward, and gave his wife a long, lingering kiss. When their lips parted, he said, "It just proves that you will a very good Jedi."

"Your own Space Witch!" she agreed.

He helped her to her feet, and together the two of them walked to the end of the clearing and the castle that rose in the early afternoon sun before them. "It's so strange," he said. "When I arrived, I was convinced it was my job to destroy Voldemort and save your people. Now I stand here with you, and it is my father and friends that are fighting him."

Beside him, Luna squeezed him tight. "Silly boy. You were never brought here to make it all better for everyone else," she said with a giggle. "My magic called you to make everything better for me. And you have."

They remained there for the rest of the battle, watching arm in arm while the future of the magical world hung in the balance.

Lord Voldemort, the most powerful wizard in five generations, raged inside. These aliens and their muggle weapons taunted him openly, while the pathetic followers they led slowly cut away his forces.

Already his acromantulas were gone, as were all his trolls and giants. He just now heard a report that the last of his precious, ensorcelled dragons had died because of that confounded muggle flying machine, and all his inferi and werewolves were obliterated almost before the battle even began.

In addition to that, he had lost more than half his wizards to only a handful of defenders.

It was time to end this now. And with his experiences against the forces of Light, the way to do that was to cut off the head. Somehow they thought they were strong enough to fight Lord Voldemort. That brat Skywalker knew better. Not even the stars themselves could produce anyone strong enough to defeat him.

Leaving his army to finish up the scraps, Voldemort walked alone and untouchable through the halls of his old school toward the great hall, where many decades before he was sorted into his destiny.

He arrived expecting to face an army, one he could easily destroy.

Instead, he found himself facing five people. One stood at the forefront with two flanking him on either side. Two young women, one young man, and older man, and then the obvious leader. All wore strange slacks and tunics, with brown robes over them. Save the elder of the girls, who wore a fetching black jumpsuit.

"This is my death?" Voldemort asked. He did not bother to hide his sarcasm. "Five muggles from the stars?"

"Just one," the leader said as he stepped forward. "I am Luke Skywalker. Ben's father. I have come to put an end to this war of yours."

Voldemort's high-pitched laughter filled the hall. Behind Luke, Corran, his children and Jaina stepped away. They were there in case Voldemort brought too much back up, but just as Luke predicted, the Dark Lord came alone.

"And how pray tell, will you do that?" Voldemort hissed. "I am immortal!"

"You were," Luke told him calmly. "I understand that there were only two of your horcruxes left. One was a cup, yes? We shot it on a torpedo to your house in Little Hagletone. It is thoroughly destroyed. And if I understand what my son is sending through the Force, your pet snake is destroyed as well. You are no more immortal than any of your men."

Voldemort's red eyes narrowed. "You lie!" he hissed.

"How could I even know about your dark secrets?" Luke asked calmly.

Voldemort was beyond the casting of mere spells. His magic was so powerful, so dark, his wand was almost irrelevant. The floor around Luke erupted in flame. From the center of the flame, though, billows shot away as the Jedi Master pushed the fire back and walked unscathed out of the barrage.

Javelins of ice streaked through the air, only to stop at Luke's upraised hand. With a flick of his risk and a push of the force, the javelins shot toward Voldemort, who flicked his wand and reduced the ice to mist.

A dark aura formed around the wizard as he lifted off the ground, hissing out parsletongue spells. Luke stiffened under a _cruciatus_ spell, but shrugged it off just as Corran did. He did not even blink at the psychic attack that followed. Instead, with raised hands, he too floated off the ground as he levitated in the Force.

"You think you can challenge me?" Voldemort roared. The wind howled around him as he launched a barrage of spells at Luke.

The Jedi Master dropped lightly back to the floor and moved away faster than the eye could follow, belaying his age. Voldemort dropped as well, furiously searching with his magical eye. "Your son tried that as well, and it nearly got him killed," he hissed.

He spun around when he heard Luke say, "I'm not hiding in the Force. I'm standing in the White Current. It is the root of much of this world's magic, a place of peace and love. It is a place that you can never reach."

Voldemort raised his hands. A shockwave of dark magic shot out from him in a ring. The other Jedi in the room jumped and ran for cover. Even the White Current was not sufficient to completely protect Luke, and he staggered into sight from the power of the spell.

"You are going to die, and your son too!" Voldemort hissed. "Avada…"

The wall behind Luke exploded. Not a hole, or a mere spot. As the Jedi Master leaped away with power no human should possibly have possessed, the entire thirty foot brick wall of the great hall blew inward, taking parts of the battlements and roof with it.

Voldemort shielded himself against the debris as only a wizard of his power could, and stood untouched as the debris cleared. When it did so, he saw a sight that, even for him, caused a spear of apprehension in his shriveled heart.

The heavily modified Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 stock light freighter hovered just meters off the ground directly behind the wall. It was so close Voldemort could clearly see the woman sitting in the cockpit. Next to the woman, he saw a little girl's face. The girl waved at him before disappearing from view. He could see the quad lasers track onto him, though he had little idea of what they were.

Then he felt a grip like nothing he had ever experienced clasp him to the floor. He managed to turn his head, if nothing else, and see the Jedi holding his side in pain, but with one hand out-stretched.

"You are very powerful," Skywalker said to him. "But as you are about to find out, you are not immortal. You are going to die, Tom Riddle, not from magic, but from science."

The quad lasers opened fire. Voldemort wordlessly summoned his most powerful shield. It absorbed the punishment for less than two seconds before a bolt of red light with sufficient power to destroy objects the size of the Great Hall sheared through his magic and his skull. The shield's collapse allowed for the additional bolts to rip his body into molecules.

Just like that, the Dark Lord was gone.

A moment later, Han Solo walked in with a wounded Sirius Black on one arm. On the other side of Black walked Hermione Granger.

"Was that my wife that just killed the bad guy?" Han asked.

Luke nodded and sighed a little as he shifted his position. The curses the Dark Lord used hurt quite a lot.

"Well hell, I coulda done that!" Han said.

Luke grinned. "Ben's her nephew. She took it personally."

"Stupid Jedi," Han grumbled. "We got the rest of 'em, by the way. Set up a nice little cross-fire of e-webs on the third floor to force 'em into a corner, and dropped a couple of thermal detonators on 'em. After that, the rest kind of surrendered."

Luke nodded. Moments later Akanah stepped into the great hall.

Black was observing the damage. "Minerva's going to hate this."

Han laughed. "Yeah, well, that's what you get for letting a woman drive."

"What?" Hermione said archly.

"Hey," Han grinned. "Results speak for themselves. I'm not the one that just blew your dining room up. Though that reminds me—haven't eaten anything all day. Anywhere else I can go to get some food?"


	30. The Jedi of Hogwarts

**Chapter Thirty: The Jedi of Hogwarts**

"What do we do now?"

It was a question that hung over not just Hogwarts, but across all of magical England. The Dark Lord was gone. But much of the Ministry of Magic was gone as well. There was no minister of magic. There was no Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The Wizengamot remained, but many of its members had died in the final battle.

This fact alone cast a shadow of doubt over the whole body, since those dead members were most certainly not defending Hogwarts.

In the complete absence of anyone else, Kingsley Shacklebolt found himself in the unenviable position of running the magical kingdom. He did not want the job; quite the contrary, he tried refusing it twice.

It was Sirius Black, still recovering from the battle, who convinced Shacklebolt to take the job. "If you don't do it," Black said, "then I will!"

Kingsley was sworn in as interim Minister of Magic the very next day.

Luke, Han, Leia, Jaina, Akanah and the Horns stayed at Hogwarts. The Jedi had a demonstration first hand of just what wonders could be accomplished with magic. The wall of the castle was repaired in a single day by, of all things, a _Reparo_ charm. Granted, it was a charm performed by the entire faculty of the school at one time in one synchronized voice, but nonetheless it was a basic spell most students learned as first years.

However, Luke and his Jedi watched in open amazements as the shattered bricks of the wall climbed over themselves and slowly took their places until an unbroken, solid wall remained. When they were done, Luke shook his head with a smile. "Remarkable," he said.

He failed to discuss the time he used the Force to completely rebuild his father's castle on Coruscant. However, when he looked at Akanah, she too was smiling, having been one of the few to know about Luke's early abuses of the Force.

For Ben and Luna, none of it mattered. The two of them retreated back to their rooms in a bid to further destroy the shadow of memory that still haunted Luna. It did not have power over her, but still it remained until they could replace it with brighter memories.

In Luna's own words, whispered into Ben's ears as she eased him out of his robes, "It will take many sessions of therapy to help me recover."

The Prime Minister of England was having a sip of tea with the Home Secretary and the Minister of Defense when, without warning, the fireplace erupted in green flame.

"Bloody hell!" the Home Secretary cried out as a black man in an outlandish leopard-skin robe stepped from the flame. The three men stood entranced while two other people emerged from the fireplace—an older man with bright blue eyes, and a woman with graying hair but a slim, athletic figure.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Defense Minister snapped. "Where are our guards?"

"I'm afraid they can't hear you, Prime Minister," the man in the leopard skin said. "I've placed silencing charms around your office. I apologize for dropping in unannounced, but much has happened and I felt you should be appraised of the situation."

The Home Secretary and Prime Minister stared at the newcomer with narrowed, shrewd eyes. "You're not our usual contact," the Prime Minister finally said.

The Defense Minister sputtered a moment, but then sat back in silence when he realized that the Prime Minister and Home Secretary were aware of what was happening.

"The chances are good that your regular contact is dead. My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt. I am the newly appointed minister for magic."

"Magic?" the Defense minister said with a choking sputter.

"Is this related to what's been happening? All the unexplained deaths and other odd events? What was it?" The Prime Minister pulled a very large file from his desk. "The member of Parliament who stripped and started dancing in full view of the House of Commons. Or the car that came to life and began chasing people around Piccadilly? Or all the dead, decapitated and burned bodies we found in a park in central London?"

"Those are ancillary effects of recent turmoil," Shacklebolt said. "The perpetrators of those incidents have been caught and are currently surviving time in a prison much worse than any you muggles have, or they are dead. No, the chaos happened because not too many days ago, a Dark Wizard of great power overthrew the Ministry of Magic. With the help of our friends here, we were able to finally defeat him, but only at great cost. The collapse of our government allowed some less responsible members of our community to commit pranks against your citizens. We've taken those pranks seriously enough to include prison time."

"And the murders?" the Home Secretary demanded.

"The work of the Dark Wizard or his followers, or in the case of the beheadings, the victims were themselves dark wizards defeated in battle."

"What about the explosion at Little Hagleton?" the Minister of Defense suddenly said. "We almost had an international crises!"

"That was our fault, I'm afraid," the other man said.

The Minister of Magic looked long and hard at him. "And who are you?"

"I am Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, of the Galactic Alliance. It was my son whose ship your people tracked and captured two and a half months ago. And it is our fault that your world has been receiving so many signals recently."

"Can you explain that?" The Prime Minister said.

"Not well," Luke admitted with a smile. "Rest assured, we will be correcting that issue shortly. Much like your own world, there are corporate interests that would like nothing more than to rape your planet of every natural resource you have, and they could do so without you having much chance to defend yourselves. Previously your world had a measure of protection. We will be reinstating that protection in the near future. However, there will be one exception."

"What's that?"

The three officials stiffened when Luke reached into his robes and removed a small, black cube. He stepped across and placed the cube on the Prime Minister's desk. "This is nothing more than a communication device. If you attempt to take it apart for study, the interior will melt into slag. However, if in the future your planet finds itself facing a global natural disaster, such as an asteroid or a solar flare of sufficient magnitude, push the center button. It will put you in contact with the Jedi Order. If we are able, we will assist."

"So you're saying you're from another world?" the Prime Minister said.

"I am," Luke said. "I understand that in retrieving some of his equipment my son was forced to destroy one of your facilities. I cannot barter with technology, but I understand that items such as gold and platinum are valuable here. If you give me an approximate valuation in gold or platinum for the losses to your facilities, we will be glad to compensate your people."

"That won't be necessary," the Prime Minister said. "I would be interested in learning more of this Alliance of yours."

Luke smiled. "Yours is a remarkable world, Prime Minister. I have no doubt that in the fullness of time you may even be a member of the galactic community. But you are not ready at this time. Perhaps your great grandchildren will see that day, however."

"In the mean time," Shacklebolt said, "please rest assured that I will make it a point of the new Ministry of Magic to ensure that our two worlds co-exist peacefully, and that communication improves significantly."

"I would expect so," the Prime Minister said.

With a curt, respectful nod, Shacklebolt popped away. Luke turned to the older woman, and said, "Are you ready?"

She nodded, and together the two disapparated away.

"Considering I had only four days of training, I would say I did quite well," Luke said at Hogwarts after their meeting with the Prime Minister.

"You splinched your artificial hand," Leia said. "And you almost turned me inside out!"

The great Jedi master shrugged, then grinned. "I'm getting better. The first time I splinched my whole arm."

Leia rolled her eyes. "It's like you've discovered a whole new toy."

"I have," Luke said. They were in the Headmistresses office, waiting with McGonagall.

Just then, the door to the office opened and Ben and Luna stepped in. The two were not dressed as Jedi, but instead wore their Slytherin robes. "Good morning, Professor McGonagall," Luna said.

She then walked to the chair holding Luke and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Hello, Father." Next came Leia. "Hello, Aunt Leia."

Ben was sitting by the time she finished her greetings, and so she walked over and plopped down into his lap without a hint of embarrassment.

Leia had the slightly lost look people sometimes had around Luna, but Luke merely smiled with affection. "Good morning, Luna. How were your classes?"

"Oh, quite nice, thank you," she said. "I've discovered that when I use the Force in spell casting, I can get the most remarkable results."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," McGonagall said.

"She accidently transfigured Professor Flitwick into a crumple-horned snorkack."

"There is no such animal," McGonagall said.

A low, bumbling growl could be heard from the halls below. "There is now," Ben said with a grin.

"I'm sure Madame Pomphrey has it under control," Luke said.

The headmistress sighed tiredly. "Well, on to business, I suppose. Mr. and Mrs. Skywalker, we asked you up here to discuss your futures," McGonagall said.

Ben's face became serious, though Luna seemed much more interested in his hair. "Of course, Professor."

"I would like you to consider staying here," she said. "To finish your educations. During the short time you were here, Ben, I can say that you had a remarkable influence on Slytherin house. You are a natural leader, and arrived at a time when the students of this school, and most especially that house, desperately needed one. And you, Mrs. Skywalker, have shown all your classmates just what a talented and powerful witch you are. I would consider it both a favor, and an honor, if you would consider staying."

"There's also one more reason you might consider staying," Luke added.

Lune twisted around in Ben's lap until she stared at him with a happy smile. "Daddy Luke, are you going to stay as well?"

Luke nodded. "I am. Akanah is going to be staying as well. After she re-established the White Current charm on the planet, she was able to modify it for a special beacon. RD-D2 is bringing the _Jade's Fire_ in, so that we have a ride when we need it. Akanah is going to be meeting with the Fleming Family to research how the Fallanassi fared here, and the influence the White Current has had on magic."

"And you're going to be studying magic here?" Ben said.

Luke nodded. "It really is like a dream. A whole new field of power, different and yet connected. Professor McGonagall has been gracious enough to let me study here."

"Well, of course I would like to get my NEWTS," Luna said. "I did quite too well on my OWLS not to."

"And you, Ben?"

Ben smiled. "Where Luna is is home. I'll stay if she wants to stay. Besides, I'm the captain of the quidditch team."

"A very good answer," Leia said. "You'll make a good husband."

"He does indeed," Luna agreed whole-heartedly. She grinned back up at Luke. "So, when do I get to build my own lightsaber?"

McGonagall blinked. "Light saber?"

"Well, yes," Luna said. "I can't very well be a Jedi without one, can I?"

"A Jedi?" Leia looked from her brother's face, to Ben's and Luna's, and back to Luke. "She's going to be a Jedi?"

"Oh yes," Luke said with a happy grin as he eyed his daughter in law. "And a most powerful space witch she will be."

_**The End**_

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Author's Final Notes: All chapters were edited 12/28/2010 to remove author review responses. Thank you for reading.


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